The Penultimate Solution
by Lac Lausanne
Summary: Gargamel has gone too far this time, even for him. The Smurfs think they are safe now that Gargamel is no more. But is worse to come?
1. Chapter 1

The Penultimate Solution

Chapter 1

All was quiet in the forest as the Smurfs were fast asleep in their mushroom houses. A full moon shone down on their village, bathing everything in it's silvery light.

Not a creature was stirring and every smurf was fast asleep, apart from Papa Smurf who had woken up with a start and could not get back to sleep.

"Oh, this is no good," he said to himself. "What is smurfing, why do I have such a feeling of foreboding? I've just got to get some sleep and try and figure this out in the morning."

Eventually, he managed to doze off, but it was not a restful sleep.

The same silvery light shone through Gargamel's thin curtains into his bedroom and he was tossing and turning fitfully in his bed. This was disturbing Azreal who thought that the had found a nice warm spot at the foot of the bed.

The cat jumped up to the shelf above the bed and gave his owner an angry glare. How dare he disturb his sleep.

Now Gargamel was starting to mutter in his sleep "I'll get you rotten Smurfs! Humph, you won't get away this time!" This was yet another futile chasing dream and he always hated the nightmarish endings.

Azreal had enough of all the noise and jumped down off the shelf and went to find a quieter spot far away from his master. He soon found a nice spot by the fire and settled down.

After a while, even Gargamel grew less noisy and settled down into a deep sleep. He then had the best dream ever, the dream he had been wishing for all his life, the dream that would give him the solution to his blue nightmare, the solution about how to destroy the Smurfs forever!

He did not stop smiling to himself all through the rest of the night.

A few hours later dawn was breaking, Greedy as usual, was the very first smurf to be up even before the dawn. He had been busy preparing breakfast as he always did everyday of the year.

There was a knock at the door and Brainy walked in attracted by the lovely smell coming from Greedy's house. "Hi Greedy, what's for breakfast?"

"Oh, hi Brainy" said Greedy "Just the usual, I'm just making sure everything tastes just smurfy. Tell you what Brainy, can you call every smurf to breakfast for me?"

"No problem Greedy" answered Brainy, "As I always say, you can't start work on an empty belly."

Meanwhile in Gargamel's hovel:

"That's it Azreal!" Gargamel shouted, literally jumping out of bed and making the cat jump into the rafters of the ceiling in shock.

"I know what to do," cackled Gargamel as he rubbed his hands gleefully, "It's perfect, it's pure genius and so simple and deliciously evil, heh, heh,heh. Quick you stupid fur ball, get yourself down from there. We must hurry and get all the ingredients for my plan to work, it has to be done today. There will be just enough time to get everything in place, before Mummy comes back from visiting her friends abroad."

Throwing off his nightshirt and then slipping on his ragged black tunic, red leggins and shoes, he grabbed Azreal and hurried to the door. The cat was not happy about missing his breakfast, he grumbled under his breath from Gargamel's arrogance.

Back in the Smurf village, every smurf was sitting down at the long bench tables tucking into their breakfast. Papa Smurf was at the head of one of the tables and was just picking at his food, he was not his cheery self this morning and some of the other smurfs were taking notice, "Pappy?" asked Sassette, "What's wrong? You haven't said a word all morning."

"What? Oh sorry Sassette, it's just that I've had a bad night and something is bothering me, but I'm just not sure what it is."

"What can we do to help Papa Smurf? " asked Brainy.

"Oh, don't worry yourselves my little Smurfs," said the village leader, "I'm sure this feeling will pass soon, just my age creeping up on me."

He got up from the table and picked up his plate, " I better be getting back to my lab and make myself a little 'pick me up' potion," he added, "I'm sure I'll feel more smurfy afterwards."

The other Smurfs watched him walk back to his house, still concerned of Papa Smurf's unusual behaviour, "I don't like this one bit!" said Brainy. "No, not one bit!"

"Why?" asked Sassette, "Is Papa Smurf not allowed to feel a bit unsmurfy sometimes? Even he can't be smurfy all the time."

"Yes, I do know that, but it seems to be affecting him a lot and that is always a cause for concern. Something bad is brewing, even I'm feeling it."

"Well, let's leave him be for a while and maybe visit him later this afternoon and see if we can cheer him up."

"Sounds like a plan"

Back in Gargamel's hovel, Gargamel and Azreal were just about to start the day, "Now Azreal," said the evil wizard, "For my plan to work, we need to gather together all the required ingredients before the end of this morning. So we need to work fast."

And with that, Gargamel set off to the swamp to collect some foul herbs, which took some doing as they wer truly foul and made him heave a few times. Azreal wisely kept out of the way.

They traveled into town and managed to find a butcher who was prepared to sell him a couple of buckets of pig entrails for a few pennies, they were going to be thrown out for the dogs anyway. "Oh, the gods this is revolting!" gasped Gargamel as he tries his best to hold his breath, "But this is the 'piece de resistance'."

He then visited a potion shop and purchased a large bag of explosive substances, using the last of his meager savings. "It will be worth it in the end," Gargamel said to himself, "I'll soon be so rich that I'll be able to own this rotten town!"

They got back to he hovel just before noon and sat down to have some lunch. Soon after, they get themselves prepared and got to work, "Oh, this is going to be such fun!" said Gargamel, "Pity, I won't be able to find out what the Smurfs would do about it, but I will find out eventually. Come Azreal! Let's get the cauldron boiling, we have lots to do and you'd better have a nose peg, as this is about to get quite disgusting."

He pulled out the congealed mass of guts from one of the buckets, "Yuck, yuck,yucky!" grimaced Gargamel as he held his nose, resisting the urge to vomit.

Azreal just looked at him with a look of disgust, his master had done some gross things in the past but this was just weird even for him. He slunk off to lie on the bed, at least his master was not going to disturb him there in the daytime.

Meanwhile, back in the Smurf village, Papa Smurf was alone in his home and was mixing up a potion in a small cauldron over a fire, "This potion should give me second sight, so that I can find out what is wrong."

He ladled some of the potion into a cup, after a while the potion was ready and once it had cooled enough, Papa Smurf took a couple of sips. Straight away, he felt a little lightheaded. He sat down on the chair and watched the steam rising from the rest of the potion that was still bubbling away on the fire, the steam moved side to side, as if it was dancing.

Slowly but surely, it formed itself into a familiar figure, Papa Smurf gasped at what he saw, "Gargamel, I should have known! But, wait, what's this?"

The steam took on an orange glow and it showed the Smurf village burning and the fire going out into the forest, consuming everything before it. Animals and Smurfs were running in all directions and there was something else there, but it was not clear. Before Papa Smurf can interpret it all, there was a loud knock at the door and the vision vanished.

"Papa Smurf, Papa Smurf," shouted Brainy as he pounded on the village leader's front door, "Quick! Come see!"

door, "Quick! Come see!"

Papa Smurf was still feeling lightheaded and fell off his chair, hurting his back in the fall.

"Oww!" he groaned, "What on earth is going on Brainy, you've made me hurt myself! "

About twenty minutes earlier, back at Gargamel's hovel, Azreal was outside pacing up and down. He had been thrown out of the door by Gargamel for somehow getting in the way of his genius.

"Meerow, merrow-meeeeerow!" complained Azreal to himself and then he took out his frustration on a nearby bush in the vegetable garden and tore all the leaves off it, he then pulled up a few carrots and bit through them for good measure. Satisfied with his act of vandalism, he went off to find himself a nice sunny spot, far away from his demented master.

He walked down the rise and found a nice patch of warm earth just beyond the muck pond and no sooner had he settled down on a nice patch of warm earth that there was an almighty explosion from the hovel!

Azreal could only watch in horror as the familiar tower collapsed on itself and fire took hold of the flimsy thatched roof. Then a couple of massive fireballs and shooting stars came out of what was left of the tower and filled the sky with acrid black smoke. The cat could watch no longer, so he ran up the nearest tree and clung on for dear life.

After five or ten minutes passed, the pyrotechnics died down and the fire had gone out. Now it had consumed part of the roof and fallen through into the interior of the hovel, where the bare stone floor afforded it no fueld to continue burning.

The cat was still in the tree and he strained his ears trying to listen for Gargamel's usual cursing or crying for help. But there was no sound, it was deathly silent.

Even the birds and insects were silent. Getting a bit worried now, Azreal climbed down from the tree with difficulty and fell the last three meters. "Meerooow!" he shrieked.

Azreal ran all the way to what was left of the hovel and walked over the shattered front door that lay in splinters on the dusty ground. He gingerly picked his way through the rubble of the tower, sneezing a couple of times due to the dust being blown around by the wind. He started to call for his master as loud as possible, but there was no answer, just the gentle crackle of smoldering thatch coming from the bedroom area.

Azreal was seriously getting concerned now, he did not like his master much, but he was all that he had in the world and he did worry about him.

There seemed to be an undamaged area just behind the overturned heavy wooden table, Azreal crept round the back of the table and that is when he saw one of his master's shoes, all singed and still smoking.

He crept further round and saw the ragged black tunic, but where wer the legs? And why was the tunic so flat? Further still he crept and the whole horrifying sight came into view. Azreal gave a strangled shriek and ran like the wind out of the hovel and did not stop running until he got as far away as he could.

Back to the present time in the Smurf village:

Papa Smurf managed to get to the front door but painfully as the fall had given him an attack of sciatica, then he opened the door, "What is the meaning of this?" he yelled, "I'm trying to concentrate here!"

He soon stopped shouting when he heard loud explosions. The village leader saw a couple of fireballs shooting up into the sky from the forest's edge, towering over the trees like hungry giants looking for their next meal. Brainy stood there, also in shock at what he was seeing.

"What on earth is going on?" asked Papa Smurf.

"That's what we are trying to tell you!" cried the myopic smurf, "You've got to come, we think Gargamel has blown himself up good and proper this time!"

Tracker Smurf came running into the village, his eyes were full of fear, telling that he had seen a horrific sight. "Everysmurf!" he announced, "Listen, I've just been up a high tree to get a better look and Gargamel's hovel is destroyed! I mean, it's flattened!"

"Did you see Gargamel?" queried Brainy Smurf.

"No", said Tracker, "But Azreal was running away from the hovel looking terrified!"

"Oh my Smurf" gasped Papa Smurf, "We'd better get over there and see if Gargamel is OK"

All the smurfs stopped and looked at Papa Smurf. "Why should we do that?" asked Grouchy, "We are better off without him, it's his fault if he's killed himself, why it might be the best thing that he's ever done for us!"

"Grouchy Smurf!" growled Papa Smurf, "I'm ashamed of you!"

"Even Gargamel", explained Papa Smurf, "Regardless how of how mean and cruel he was towards us, he had never killed any one of us. He always uses humane traps and luckily for us, he moves too slowly to catch us once we manage to escape, even his cat is useless."

Papa Smurf then took a deep breath and said "He is just a lonely Human being, who has a fixation on destroying us, so why is he no different to the other trappers in the forest who hunt other creatures for profit? This does not make him evil. To him, it's just a means to an end and in his case, it's to get rich enough to leave the cursed country."

"Yeah", spat Grouchy, "But it's personal to me, as he is hunting me and my kin and I don't like it!"

With that, Grouchy turned around and stormed back to his house, his cheeks burned with anger and frustration.

"Grouchy is entitled to his opinion," said Papa Smurf, "But for myself, I would not be able to forgive myself if I did nothing to help and I would like to think that every smurf would feel the same as it's the smurfy thing to do for any living creature."

Papa, then walked off and headed to the center of the village a few meters away and shouted, "Everysmurf, gather around!"

Smurfs from all over the village came over and formed a semi-circle in front of Papa Smurf, who was standing on a mushroom podium. "I'm sure you have all heard and seen the explosions that came from Gargamel's hovel," he said, his voice booming with confidence, "I'm getting some Smurfs together to make a search party to find Gargamel and see if there is anything that we can do for him."

"Oh Pappy," wailed Sassette, her eyes filling with tears, "What if he is? You know, if he is?"

"I know what you are trying to say Sassette," said Papa Smurf as he held Sassette in his arms, "But if the worst is waiting for us, we can only do what needs to be done."

Papa Smurf lets go of Sassette and turns back towards the crowd of his fellow smurfs, "Now come on my little smurfs," he ordered, "Grab some first aid kits and bandages, also can somesmurf get the bottle of healing potion from my lab?"

The door to Grouchy's house flew open and the bad tempered smurf stormed out of it. He marched all the way to Papa Smurf, with steam still fizzling out of his ears, "I've thought about it Papa Smurf," he told the village leader, "And I would like to come along to help, but I still hate Gargamel!"

"Thank you Grouchy," said Papa Smurf, "You are being a true Smurf. Come on everysmurf, lets get moving, time is of the essence!"

In total, seven smurfs set off for Gargamel's hovel, they were Papa Smurf, Sassette, Clumsy, Brainy, Tracker, Hefty and Grouchy. They were all nervous about what they would find in the destroyed home of their arch enemy.


	2. Chapter 2

Reflections and Revelations (Chapter 2)

In a faraway corner of the forest, in a sunny clearing near the start of the mountain range, was the home of the elderly Wizard Homnibus.

The wizard was outside in his garden as the wind played with his golden flowing robes. He was busy drawing water from his well at the front of his house, he had already brought up two buckets, and the third was just appearing over the lip of the well when Homnibus heard a noise behind him. He turned to see who it was and before he could even call out in surprise, he felt himself being lifted up and was thrown into the well.

A figure all in black looked into the well and saw that the old wizard was knocked out, but safe enough as the water only came up to his waist as he had fallen onto his backside.

"That will take care of you for a while." said the stranger.

The stranger then ran into the old wizard's house and barged through the door as if it wasn't there. The stranger marched through the living room which contained many mirrors, Homnibus kept them in his house as he liked to admire himself but not as much as Vanity Smurf. The stranger stopped by the biggest full length mirror and had a good proper look at her reflection.

"Why on earth did it have to be red hair?" she said to herself. "Never mind, it makes a change, in fact everything is new and strange. I might get to like this."

The woman stranger then spun on her red boots and swished her black knee length dress as she went into Homnibus's library. It was filled with books from ceiling to floor but she was more interested in the locked safe that stood in the corner of the room. It was about the size of a barrel and made of iron with a padlock as big as a fist.

After several attempts to open the lock by using brute force, she just decided to use some metal eating acid on the lock.

She had forgotten that she was now a woman and did not have her usual strength. This did the trick and with trembling hands she reached into the dark recesses of the safe. "At last, the most evil book in the world, the one that contains all the dark magic, too dangerous to use! Homnibus you dark horse, why were you keeping it?" She said out loud to herself.

Madly cackling to no-one in particular, she stashed the book in a bag, took out a wand and said a few magic words and disappeared in a shower of sparks. On the other side of the forest, the sevensmurfs were at the muck pond and were trying to figure out a plan of action.

"Hefty, Brainy, and Tracker," said Papa Smurf, "You can go to the back of the hovel and try and find a way in there, the rest of you follow me, we will go through what's left of the front door."

All the smurfs moved out and approached the hovel in silence, each smurf listening carefully for any sounds of distress, but it was still very quiet, the birds and insects were not making a sound.

Papa Smurf stopped in front of the shattered wooden door that lay on the ground. "My, that was a powerful explosion to be able to splinter the door. Come on Smurfs, it's now or never. Let's get it over with!"

The village leader then strode into the destroyed hovel with a growing sense of confidence as at least they would not have to deal with an angry Gargamel, but he also had a growing feeling of regret that events had taken such a tragic turn. After scaling the mountain of rubble at the entrance to Gargamel's laboratory, the smurfs met up with Hefty's group that had come in through one of the back windows in the bedroom.

"Have you found anything in the bedroom?" asked Papa Smurf.

"No nothing there, most of the roof is gone and the bed is burnt." Hefty answered.

"Right that only leaves this corner here." said the village leader with a sigh. They all carefully moved forward along the floor and peeked around the overturned table. They all saw the ragged, empty and singed clothing, but they then collectively gave a gasp of shock.

Brainy Smurf was the first to scream out, "Oh my smurf! I feel sick!"

Hefty gulped and squeaked, "It's not normal I tell you!"

Then Tracker said what they all wanted to say: "Run for your smurf!"

Anyone watching the hovel would have seem a mass of screaming smurfs coming out the destroyed entrance and would have felt like running themselves, even if they did not know why they were running. But then again, it was impossible to not let that sound eat away at your soul. It was a sound to chill the blood, curdle your stomach and make you shaky at the knees, and to accompany this sound came a smell so awful so bilious that you wanted to die there and then.

The smurfs were still in shock as they came running down to the muck pond at the bottom of the rise and they all jumped into a nearby bush to see what on earth they thought they had seen, several of the smurfs had been sick but no-one was bothered about it.

They were too busy looking towards the hovel and could see a purple pulsating mass climbing over the hovel door. It moved along the ground and was half the size of a man it looked like a glistening tangle of offal and moved like an amoeba in a pond.

But the speed of it! Before they knew it, the 'thing' was almost across the bridge and they all broke cover and ran off into the forest, closely pursued by the awful smell and noise. They ran as fast as their little legs could carry them but it was gaining on them all the time. Soon, they felt that their senses were being overwhelmed, they started to slow down and felt like giving up and letting the 'thing' consume them.

"Don't give up my little smurfs!" shouted Papa Smurf at the top of his lungs which felt like they were going to explode. "Quick, every smurf, jump into the river now!"

One by one every smurf jumped into the fast flowing river and were swept away to safety, just as the creature was about to jump on top of them. The thing then let out an almighty groan that made all the birds in the trees fly off in terror, it then headed deeper into the forest, still groaning and the putrid smell was getting worse.

As it passed by, all living things within a couple of meters of it withered and died, this included any animals and especially the smurfs' beloved trees. It left a trail of death and devastation behind it. High up in the mountains just a few miles from the forest, Azrael was curled up under a rocky overhang, he was tending to one of his back paws that had a nasty cut .All he could do was to lick it to keep it clean. He had been running all day and was feeling exhausted.

He so wished he had his master with him now, he would be looked after and would have food. This thought made Azrael's stomach grumble. He missed Gargamel. Despite his exhaustion, Azrael decided that he was going to return to the forest as there was no food up on the mountain and after missing breakfast earlier in the day he was now starving.

He painfully got to his feet and limped back down the mountain. It was getting dark but this did not bother him as he could see well enough. The smurfs on the other hand could not see in the dark very well. They managed to drag themselves out of the river a few miles downstream by using some driftwood that had piled up along the riverbank. At least they got out before the waterfall.

"Oh, what an unsmurfy day!" complained Grouchy, "I hate today!" he added.

"What on earth are we going to do about that monster?" asked Tracker

"This magic is too powerful for me" answered the elderly smurf, "We will have to see Homnibus, he has all the books on dark magic under lock and key, I think it is the only way to destroy that abomination of nature!"

"Do you think that the monster is Gargamel?" asked Sassette.

"I feel sorry for him if it is, whatever he has done to himself, it's not smurfy and unless we can change him back he will have to be destroyed." Answered the village leader and he gave Sassette a hug to reassure her.

"What a horrible thing to happen to him. What was he thinking of?" Sobbed Sassette who was still in Papa's arms. "It seems that he tried some dark magic and it backfired, who knows? The important thing is that we are safe and tomorrow we would get help." said the village leader and he told the other smurfs

"We'd better not return to the village, in case the monster tracks us down and finds us. I don't want to put the rest of the village in peril. We will shelter under this tree for the night and then set off for Homnibus' home in the morning."

"Yes that's a good idea" said Sassette,"I'm so tired that I can't walk another step." Soon all the smurfs were huddled together in some dry leaves under a hazel tree and fell fast asleep.

Their sleep that night was disturbed by the chilling sound of the monster in the woods, it was creeping along the dank undergrowth, consuming all living things and unseen by any other living creature it was getting bigger and bigger and was now the size of a horse. Its amoebic slithering had evolved into a humanoid two legged gait and it was hungry. Hungry for smurfs!


	3. Chapter 3

'Farewell to the past'

Dawn was breaking over the forest and the seven Smurfs were waking up in their pile of leaves. Dew had covered them in a thin layer of moisture and they all felt damp and horrible.

"I couldn't sleep a wink last night Papa" complained Grouchy Smurf. "Neither could I, my little Smurf" replied the elderly Smurf who was trying to get up and not having much luck.

"Here, let me help you" said Grouchy and he gave Papa a helping hand. "Thanks, my old bones don't like the damp it seems. Right everysmurf, we must get a move on and tell Homnibus all about what we've seen and I'm sure he will come to our aid as this monster is now threatening the whole forest and all creatures and humans who dwell in it. Tracker, can you go to the village and warn the others to stay in the village and not to venture out. If they see or hear the monster approaching, they must scatter and hide in the forest, so they don't present an easy target."

"Where do you think it is now pappy?" asked Sassette "I'm not sure, I've not heard anything for a while, not sure if that is good or bad news. Come we must get moving, it will take us at least an hour of running to get to Homnibus."

Slowly at first but then faster with every step, the Smurfs set off running towards the mountains .

In another part of the forest Azrael was having a rest. He'd been walking all night due to his injured paw slowing him down and had arrived at Homnibus home at daybreak, he entered the Wizard's home and was not scared of being chased away as he could not care less. He was too exhausted to even bother to run, he just felt like curling up and sleeping forever. He managed to climb up onto the elderly wizard's bed and collapsed in a heap.

He was so deeply asleep that he did not hear the cries for help coming from the well or the Smurfs who were just approaching the house, all puffing and panting from their long run, even Azrael's keen sense of smell did not pick up the stink of their sweaty little bodies.

The Smurfs on the other hand were super alert and heard the cries for help emanating from the well. They ran up to the base of the well and climbed up the pulley rope. Hefty was the first Smurf onto the lip of the well "Who is there?" he shouted down into its inky depths. "Homnibus!" replied a voice filled with strain.

"Oh my Smurf! How on earth did you get down there?" shouted Hefty. "Just get me out of here please! I'm getting hypothermia" replied the desperate wizard. "But how are we going to get you out? There are only seven of us there is no way with even the whole village that we will manage it."

"Go to my bedroom cabinet, there is a wand in the top draw, throw it down to me and I'll get myself out, please hurry! "groaned the trapped wizard.

Hefty jumped down and raced into the house, he jumped on the bed and almost had the fright of his life. Azrael was on the bed inches from him. Hefty tried to hold his breath to stop himself shouting out in fright but it was no good, it had to come out. "AZRAEL!"

Azrael's eyes did not even flutter Hefty was quite puzzled by this and gave the cat's paw a squeeze, by standing on it, still nothing. He then pulled a couple of whiskers, not a twitch. But Hefty could see that the feline was still breathing but seemed out for the count.

"Hurry up Hefty, what are you doing in there?" shouted the other Smurfs. This snapped him out of his shock of seeing Azrael and he shouted back "Just give me a minute!" He then thought to himself "What was I doing? Oh, yes I've got to smurf that wand." He bounded over to the cabinet and managed to pull the top draw open just a crack and pulled out a silver wand about 3 times as tall as himself. He then jumped off the bed and ran back to the waiting Smurfs who had by now all climbed up onto the rim of the well and were talking to Homnibus in his miserable prison.

"There you go!" shouted Hefty as he threw down the wand into the dark hole. A few seconds later there was a bang and a puff of smoke and a shivering wet wizard was standing in front of them.

"Thank you my friends, I was sure that I was going to perish in that well, if you don't mind, I have to get changed into new robes and sit by the fire to warm myself up."

"Of course" answered Papa Smurf "We'll help you get the fire started and warm some water for you, don't want you to get ill." The Smurfs then got on with their work and smurfed a blazing fire and a pan of hot water for the wizard's feet. "Ah, this is much better, I'm feeling more alive now, thanks to my wonderful Smurf friends" beamed Homnibus. Hefty came up to Papa Smurf and pulled him to one side "Papa Smurf, I almost forgot to tell you. Azrael is on the bed in the house and seems to be unconscious" said Hefty Smurf. "We'll have to deal with him then, he must have had quite an ordeal when his master blew up the hovel, poor creature" replied the village leader "I don't think we will need to hurry and he seems to have his hurt back paw, so he will be in no condition to chase us" said Hefty. Papa Smurf and Hefty then went back to join Homnibus in front of the warming fire.

"I'm glad you are feeling better Homnibus. You mentioned that you were pushed, did you get to see who it was?" asked Papa Smurf. "No, I just felt myself being lifted up over the edge of the well and I did not have time to grab anything to save myself, I must have blacked out on the way down as I can't remember even hitting the bottom. I'm just thankful that I did not break any bones or worse" replied Homnibus.

"So are we. I wish that we were meeting in happier times, but since you've been trapped in the well, terrible things have been happening in the forest . Gargamel has invoked some kind of dark magic and he seems to have done something terrible to himself and in the process his hovel was destroyed. When we went to investigate, we could only find his charred clothing and instead there was a grotesque monster that chased us into the forest. We have not seen or heard it since, but Tracker Smurf after coming back from the village, said that there was a swathe of forest that had withered and died, so it could have been caused by this monster."

"How awful, he is such a meddler and he can be so stubborn and overconfident when it comes to magic and this is the result. I need to check my library, I do have some dangerous books, I do hope that they have not been taken" replied the shocked Homnibus as he hurried to his feet and stepped out of the bowl of water making it slosh onto the floor. He and the Smurfs ran over to the library with wet feet and flung open the door.

Homnibus and the Smurfs drew a gasp of shock at the mess in the library. All the shelves had been tipped over, books lay all over the floor and the safe in the corner of the room was wide open and empty!

"Oh, please no! Not that book!" shouted Homnibus sinking to his knees. "What's wrong? Which book was it?" asked a concerned Papa Smurf. "The Penultimate book of dark magic has been stolen! I knew that I should have taken it back to the Wizards library when I had the chance, but for some reason I didn't and now I'm so angry with myself!" cried the elderly wizard, covering his face with his hands. "I had no idea that the book still existed, wasn't it supposed to be destroyed and all copies burnt?" asked the Smurf leader. "It was, well the original was, but the Wizards found a copy and wanted to keep it for 'reference', but they only lent it out to wizards who had a means of keeping it safe and now I've let them down. Oh I'm going to get into so much trouble for this, I might get kicked out of the academy" sobbed Homnibus.

Papa Smurf did not know what to say to comfort the wizard, but spoke up and said "Homnibus, it's happened, the best thing we can all do now is try and find out where this monster is and try and defeat it before it destroys this forest and all the creatures and people in it." Homnibus looked down at the wise Smurf and replied "Yes, you are right Papa, we must do what we can to resolve the situation, I'll get some things together and all my dark magic detection equipment and if you don't mind, I would like to come to your village, you must be worried about your other Smurfs."

"Very true Homnibus, we've been away for almost a day and night now and it will soon be dark, we must get home. But before we leave, we do have another matter to attend to." The elderly wizard looked puzzled and replied "What matter? Oh of course, the cat! "They then both walked over to the bedroom closely followed by Brainy and Hefty and the other Smurfs followed a little way behind. Hefty Smurf jumped up onto the bed and kept his eyes on the sleeping cat, slowly he crept up to him and gave him a kick on the front paw. Azrael winced and growled a little in his sleep, but did not wake.

Feeling braver, Hefty climbed up onto the feline and jumped up and down on his head, still no reaction. "Hey Azrael, are you dead?" quipped the brave Smurf, and he laughed at his own joke. "Hefty, leave the cat alone and come and help us bandage his paw. It's not smurfy to make fun of the misfortune of others, even enemies" chided Brainy Smurf. Hefty got off Azrael's head and joined Papa, Brainy and Homnibus who were finishing off cleaning the cut paw and applying a salve and bandage.

"There, that should heal quite nicely, I'll leave some food and water for him, he should be safe enough in my house, he won't be able to escape as he will be locked in this room." Said the wizard and he stooped down to pick up his belongings which consisted of a rucksack with spell books and a few potions and in his hands he held a pair of copper divining rods encrusted in clear crystals. "These divining rods will help us track down the monster, when dark magic is detected they glow red, the redder they become the closer we are to the monster. Let's get moving." Said Homnibus and together he and the Smurfs set off for the village.

Back at the Smurf village, there was a tension in the air as if every Smurf was waiting for something to happen and they had no idea what. Ever since Tracker Smurf ran into the village that morning the Smurfs had been primed for action and had already packed their 'Oh Smurf! bags containing food and clothing in case they had to be away from the village for any length of time.

Vanity Smurf was pacing up and down outside his house mirror in hand, looking at his reflection for the hundredth time that afternoon and checking for any worry wrinkles. "Oh my, I think I'm starting to get a wrinkle, what a disaster I can't take this stress, it's not good for my complexion!" he wailed to his reflection in the mirror.

Smurfette had just come out of her house and came over to comfort Vanity. "Now, now Vanity, you know that you are the most handsome Smurf of all and I don't notice any wrinkles on your face, you always look smurfy." "Thank you Smurfette, but I really don't feel very smurfy at all, even my stomach is complaining," and with that Vanity's stomach gave a loud growl, the poor Smurf's face turned a shade of green and he suddenly ran off towards his house clutching his tummy.

"Poor Vanity, he just can't handle it," thought Smurfette to herself. She then walked across the square to Handy Smurf's home. She knocked on the door and Handy opened the door straight away.

"Smurfette, good to see you, come in." "Thank you Handy, how are you faring with all this hullabaloo? The blonde Smurf asked. "Well, I don't like it, none of us do but until Papa gets back we are sitting ducks if the monster decides to attack us, we don't even have Brainy around to tell us what to do, not that we would listen to him anyway," smirked Handy. "Yes, I know what you mean, but it would be smurfy to have someone to look up to at a time of crisis," then all of a sudden Smurfette's face crumpled and she started to sob. Handy was a bit taken aback by this as she had seemed quite calm; he moved towards her and gave her a cuddle. She laid her face on his shoulder and carried on sobbing, her tears wetting his blue skin. "Here Smurfette, have a hanky and blow you nose,"said Handy whilst trying to get a hanky out of his pocket. He managed to find a corner that was clean and Smurfette took it from him and blew her nose very loudly. "Oh, I'd better not give it back to you, bit yucky now," said Smurfette who had by now stopped crying and seemed to be holding Handy round the waist a little too tightly.

"Glad you feel better." Said Handy, but he now felt a bit awkward as Smurfette was not releasing her grip on his waist. "Err, you can let go now Smurfette," squeaked Handy. But his eyes met with Smurfette's eyes and they seemed to draw him in. Her eyes were like pools of blue azure and he could not tear his gaze away, he opened his mouth to protest but instead felt compelled to come nearer to her mouth and before he could stop himself their lips met and they shared a passionate kiss that took their breath away and made their hearts race. Handy did not know how long they had been kissing for but they came up for air after what seemed like hours.

"Wow, Smurfette, that was Smurftastic! I didn't know that you fancied me so much?" said the out of breath Smurf who was now getting palpitations. "I do like you Handy you're so clever and the best thing of all is that you are not obsessed with your looks the same way that Hefty wants to have big muscles and Vanity wants to be wrinkle free. I just like your down to earth honesty, imagination and the fact that you love the skin you are in," said Smurfette still looking deeply into Handy's eyes she was slowly running her right hand up and down his bare chest. "Don't know what to say to that, but thanks for the compliment, I think?" replied the blushing Smurf who was turning a slight shade of purple all over his cheeks. Smurfette and Handy then took hold of each other's hands and drew closer together to exchange another kiss, their hearts beating faster, yearning for another taste, their hearts beating as the door burst open and Miner Smurf barged into the room shouting "Can't you feel it, there is a Smurfquake! Quick everyone needs to get out of their houses before they collapse!" Handy and Smurfette looked puzzled by this outburst but then they felt the ground shake a little and some of Handy's tools fell off the table onto the floor. "I thought the earth was moving when we had that kiss, but did not realise that it was moving for real!" gasped Smurfette.

Without wasting another minute, Handy, Miner and Smurfette ran out of the mushroom house just before a large piece of plaster came crashing down from the ceiling and exploding in a cloud of white dust. "That was close, too close for comfort, "said a shocked Handy who was now standing outside his broken home, his head full of conflicting emotions. All around him the other mushroom houses had cracks in the walls and some had lost part of their roofs.

"Come on, we must check on everyone else and make sure they have their 'Oh Smurf bags' and then regroup near the big oak," shouted Miner Smurf who was making his way through the rubble outside the storehouse and grabbed his own emergency bag.

Meanwhile, a couple of miles away from the village:

Homnibus and the seven Smurfs had all stopped when they felt the ground shake. Sassette clung to Papa Smurf and Homnibus and the rest of the smurfs crouched down until the shaking stopped. "That is not good, not good at all" muttered Homnibus to himself. He took hold of his divining rods and held them loosely in his hands, he stood up and walked a few paces in the direction of the village and noticed that some of the crystals were turning pink, he moved further forward and some more crystals turned pink and then to a crimson red. The divining rods were also starting to cross together. "Quick, we all need to hurry the village is in terrible danger!" shouted Homnibus to the Smurfs. "I'll carry you in my beard there is no time to lose!" The elderly wizard crouched down and all the Smurfs jumped into his long white beard and held on apart from Papa Smurf who decided to ride on Homnibus's shoulder. The wizard stood up and set off at a run, which was good for a man of his age.

Giant cracks started to appear in the middle of the village, screaming Smurfs were running in all directions little emergency bags in hand, all heading for the safety of the forest. Out of the cracks long snake like tendrils started to appear. They were purple, slimy and smelt of death and decay. By now most of the Smurfs had abandoned the village and had climbed up into the tallest trees at the edge of the village where they felt safest. Down below in the village, it was a scene of utter devastation; all the Smurf houses had collapsed and the cracks were widening they could see a red glow that appeared to be rising up out of them. It was twilight and the glow seemed to even light up the ground itself.

The Smurfs watched wide eyed as a towering mass of amorphous decaying flesh rose eight feet into the air, it had no visible head, just a shifting mess of flesh with an opening best described as a maw, it then flopped down onto the ground making the ground shake and crack up even more. A new horror assaulted the Smurf's senses, it was getting difficult to breathe as the stench from the monster made several Smurfs in the nearest tree lose their grip and fall onto the forest floor, three of them got back up, but one Smurf moved no more. A groping tendril from the monster sought out its prey and dragged the unfortunate Smurf into its gapping maw.

"No! No!" screamed the other Smurfs who had been in the same tree. "Not Miner! Oh please Smurf, not Miner!" But it was too late, he was gone for good. The monster let out a piercing scream of triumph and it seemed to go on for ages. It then moved along the ground flattening the remains of the houses, searching for Smurfs. Handy Smurf and Smurfette saw everything as they were sitting in the next tree along. They seriously thought about trying to fight back, but they had no weapons and this monster was capable of destroying them all. They decided to keep hidden and hoped that they would be all saved soon very soon. Smurfette and Handy held each other more tightly than ever before and felt like they would never be parted.

Suddenly there was a flash of white in front of the monster and it reared up to its full height searching for its attacker. "Be gone, foul creature!" shouted Homnibus as he ran across to the destroyed village. Once again, Homnibus took aim with his wand and shot off another volley of spells at the monster, this had no effect at all. It just seemed to enrage it even more and the monster started to glow red. Its numerous tendrils waved around like a thousand whips and from its maw a red glow was seen to emerge and shoot towards Homnibus and the Smurfs he was carrying. "Hold on!" shouted Homnibus as he dived to the side of a row of mushroom houses and managed to avoid the missile which narrowly missed his blue cloak. Whatever the monster was shooting it burned fiercely and set fire to the storehouse. The elderly wizard got up quickly and ran towards the edge of the village where he sought safety behind one of the large oak trees which happened to be full of Smurfs high up in the branches. The monster released another lava bomb and it knocked a chunk of living wood out of the tree trunk, causing the Smurfs in the tree to scream in terror. Homnibus and Papa Smurf just looked at each other they knew that this monster had to be destroyed even if it was once human. The Smurf rule book was out of the window on this terrible night.

"We have to do the right thing," said Papa Smurf ," I think I have an idea how to stop it," answered Homnibus and he took aim with his wand, took a deep breath and spoke a few words "Zippity zip Zap" and the monster's maw was sewn shut. This seemed to distress the creature as it frantically groped at its mouth with desperation, its tendrils getting tangled up with each other. But the most drastic thing was that it was glowing redder, burning up from the inside. It let out a horrific scream much worse than anything heard before .All the Smurfs and Homnibus had no choice but to cover their ears but even this was not enough and several had their eardrums burst by the sound waves. The monster then toppled to the ground and the whole of its body burst into fierce flames. The silence was deafening.

A new noise started up and all the Smurfs in the trees cheered and climbed down from the surrounding trees, Papa Smurf ran up to them and hugged the nearest ones and then called for every Smurf to gather round him so that he could check that they were all safe. He did a quick head count. The six Smurfs that had been with him were all there, the Smurflings, Baby Smurf and eighty nine other Smurfs. There was one missing.

"I'm sure I counted right, maybe I'd better start again," said the village leader. Before he could, Smurfette came up to Papa with tears in her eyes and quietly said "The monster ate Miner." The elderly Smurf just stared at her, she just looked into his eyes and he could see the sadness there there were no need for words so they both hugged each other and cried.

Several hours had passed and it was the middle of the night, Homnibus had collected some firewood for a campfire and used the burning monster to light it. It was a cold night but the Smurfs were not shivering from the cold, they were all in shock. Homnibus managed to make a lean-to shelter for himself and all the Smurfs and they all piled in with the wizard and kept warm snuggled into his cloak, the Smurfs soon fell asleep, exhausted by the day's events. Only Homnibus remained awake, staring at the fire and glancing across at the remains of the monster that had by now reduced to a pile of glowing embers. Deep in his heart he hoped that it was not Gargamel who lay there as a pile of ashes. He did not relish having to explain everything to Gargamel's Mummy. He knew her well as an old friend and even if she was a cantankerous old lady, this news might kill her. Thank goodness she was abroad for at least another week. Homnibus gave a sigh and settled down to sleep, still staring at the fire until sleep overcame him and he could shut out the turmoil in his head.

Brainy Smurf was the first Smurf to wake the next morning and for a moment he wondered where he was and then it all came flooding back to him and he felt very sad. He crawled out of Homnibus's cloak and noticed that the white bearded wizard was already up and tending to the fire, there was a pot of water boiling and the elderly human was sorting some Smurfberries that he had collected earlier that morning. "Morning Brainy," said Homnibus. "Same to you, but I don't feel very cheery today, the village is destroyed, all my books are destroyed and we've lost Miner," replied Brainy. This set off the Smurf and he started to cry. Homnibus picked him up and sat him on his lap. "Brainy, the village can be rebuilt, the books can be rewritten and although we can't do anything for Miner, we can make sure that he is never forgotten," now dry your eyes and help me get this food ready for the other Smurfs, we must keep busy and try and repair things as best we can. "Thank you Homnibus," said Brainy taking his glasses off and wiping away his tears, "I just got a bit emotional there," "No problem," answered the wizard.

They worked in silence for a few minutes and then Homnibus got up and took a cauldron the size of a human skull and a small ash shovel from his rucksack and walked over to the remains of the monster. He carefully scooped the cooled ashes into the cauldron until it was full and replaced the lid. He then walked back to the fire and Brainy.

"Why are you collecting the ashes of that evil creature?" asked Brainy Smurf, "Well, it's all we have left of Miner if you think about it and these ashes are also all that is left of Gargamel after he turned himself into that monster, we must treat these remains with dignity as Miner Smurf and Gargamel are now just dust and we have no way of separating them. I need to give these ashes a proper and dignified burial, it's the least we can do, even for an evil wizard," replied Homnibus with a sigh. "Papa Smurf will no doubt perform a burial for Miner using the remaining ashes, I'm sure he will know what to do in memory of your dear friend Miner." Brainy Smurf nodded his understanding and carried on staring into the fire sitting close to his Smurf family and feeling the overwhelming sadness of losing a family member but also being grateful for the love that others gave him, which was one thing he was sure that Gargamel never truly got to enjoy. For now, he was happy that they were all safe.

Back at Homnibus's house, Azrael had woken up and wondered how on earth his back paw had become bandaged, how did he come to be on a nice soft bed and why had no-one chased him away or even chucked him outside. He gingerly got to his feet and stretched as only a cat could, giving an enormous yawn that showed his yellowing fangs. He sniffed the air and suddenly felt very hungry. He jumped down off the bed and moved towards the two dishes on the floor one had pieces of cooked fish, the other some water. He lapped up all the water first and then ate the fish. His hunger satisfied, he settled down on his haunches, licked his lips then his left front paw and proceeded to have a wash. He liked this place and thought to himself that he would like to stay.

Back in the remains of the Smurf village, all the Smurfs had woken up and were gathered around the camp fire eating their breakfast of Smurfberries, there was not much else to have apart from the supplies they carried in their bags as Greedy Smurf's home and bakery were no more and the storehouse had gone up in flames. But not all the Smurfs were eating much. Clumsy Smurf kept picking at his food but not eating it and he then got up from the ground near the fire and walked back into the lean- to, trying to hide his tears from the others.

"Poor Clumsy, he was great friends with Miner, he is taking it very badly," said Hefty Smurf who had no problem tucking into his breakfast. "I'd better go after him," said Papa Smurf and he got up and followed Clumsy. In the lean to, Clumsy had got under the cloak and refused to come out when Papa Smurf asked him to. "It's not fair, not fair at all, why did it have to be him? I'm the clumsy one, I should have fallen out of the tree," wailed Clumsy. "Oh, my dear little sensitive Smurf, life is not fair sometimes and Miner was so lucky to have so many Smurfs who cared deeply for him. We will all have a chance to say something at the remembrance service," said Papa Smurf. Clumsy Smurf sniffed up his tears and slowly crawled out of his hiding place. "Well, done, now come back to the fire and warm yourself and please try to eat something, we all need to keep our strength up for the work ahead," said the village leader. Together, they walked back to the fire and Hefty Smurf gave Clumsy a couple of Smurfberries.

Whilst the Smurfs were eating their breakfast, Homnibus had been busy collecting the remaining ashes in wooden chest salvaged from Miner's home. It had been Miner's favourite possession and was carved with panels depicting the life of a miner. It held his spare helmets and candles and mining overalls, which the wizard had already taken out. Once the chest was full, he closed the lid and sealed the lock shut with magic. The chest could be held easily in one of Homnibu's hands and he carried it to what was left of the centre of the village. Papa Smurf walked over to the elderly wizard and thanked him for taking the trouble to collect the ashes. The village leader then called across to the other Smurfs, "Come my little Smurfs, let us come together and remember our dear friend Miner." One by one, each Smurf came and stood in a circle around Papa and the wooden chest. Homnibus had already made his excuses and had gone into the forest to dispose of the rest of the ashes into the undergrowth, but he still had the cauldron of ashes to deal with later.

"Miner was a dear friend to all of us, he loved being underground and although we did not see much of him, he still attended village celebrations and never forgot his friends birthdays. He was very brave yesterday and without his actions, many more Smurfs would surely have perished at the hands of the monster, so he is a hero and will always be remembered as one," said Papa Smurf, trying not to cry again. "Please Smurf a moment of silence to remember Miner and what he meant to each and every one of you," said the elderly Smurf closing his eyes. All the Smurfs around him fell silent and stood with their heads bowed, thinking about their friend. After about two minutes, Papa Smurf spoke up and asked if anyone wanted to say anything. Clumsy came to the centre of the circle and stood next to Papa. "Gosh, don't know quite what to say? But I know that Miner was a very good friend to me, one of my best friends and I will feel lost without him and his stories, it's just so unfair that it had to happen to him," Clumsy said, trying very hard not to break down again, "But I'm so glad that the rest of my Smurf family is safe and well and we will rebuild our village in his memory!" said Clumsy with a new strength in his voice. This made the other Smurfs cheer and clap, together they had a new hope for the future, they had to rebuild their village, put the past behind them and start a new life free from the fear of Gargamel.

The wooden chest was placed into one of the Miner Smurfs favourite mines; it had walls covered in luminous rocks so that even in the darkness of his tomb, he would always have light. By now it was late afternoon and the Smurfs had been hard at work clearing rubble from the village and starting to rebuild their houses. They were made of wattle and daub so quite easy to mend, they just needed a lot of drying time before they could be painted. Homnibus had come back from the forest and some of the Smurfs came up to him to thank him again for saving them and destroying the monster. Homnibus smiled at them and told them all that the monster had destroyed itself due to the evil inside that had burned its way out. This satisfied the Smurfs and they went back to work.

It was getting chilly again, so Homnibus went to the lean to shelter to collect his cloak, he picked it up and heard a squeal of indignation. "Hey stop smurfing my bed!" said Sassette. She had been sleeping in the cloak and was thrown out onto the floor when it was lifted up. "Oh, sorry Sassette, did not see you there, are you alright?" asked Homnibus. "Yes, I'm OK it's my fault for hiding I suppose. You see I didn't want to attend the remembrance service as I would have cried far too much but I feel that I need to attend Pappy Gargamel's service. Do you think Pappy Smurf will let me come along?" pleaded Sassette. "Well, I'll have to ask him. We are not doing anything really, just burying the cauldron of ashes near the hovel where his grandparents are buried, "replied the wizard. "I didn't know that Pappy Gargamel had grandparents, when did they pass away, was it when he was a child?" asked the young Smurf. "No, they died long before he was born, but they were a lovely couple, but had such a tragic life, I'll talk about it when we get to the hovel, we'd better get Papa Smurf and start making our way there before it gets dark," said Homnibus and with that, he and Sassette went off to find the village leader.

Papa Smurf, Homnibus and Sassette arrived at the remains of the hovel a couple of hours before dusk. The sky was suffused with pink and a gentle breeze played in the trees. The blackbirds were singing their evening song. Homnibus led the way up the path from the muck pond bridge and went to the small courtyard to the side of the hovel where the old gnarled tree stood. He bent down and brushed off some old leaves and debris from the base of the tree and a small headstone was revealed. It was inscribed with 'Here lies Linette and Alphonse Gargamel together at last'. Papa Smurf and Sassette looked up at the headstone and Papa spoke first, "Homnibus I had no idea that there were any graves here, why so close to the hovel and why under this dead tree?" Homnibus looked down at the little Smurf and replied, "This dead tree was once very special to them both, it was a cherry tree and provided lots of fruit every year. Linette used to make wonderful cherry pies from it, I can still taste them now, I used to visit them regularly in my youth, they could not have children themselves, I was their closest neighbour and they treated me as if I was their son. You'd better make yourselves comfortable and I'll tell you the whole story of the Gargamel family."

He laid his blue cloak on the ground next to the tree and they all sat down on it. Homnibus took a deep breath and started to talk. "Alphonse Gargamel was a successful trader in fine wines and silks. He travelled all over the world and worked hard to make his fortune. He lived in Paris for most of his youth and here he married his childhood sweetheart called Linette .Although they were very rich and successful they found that they could never have children of their own, but they did not let their disappointment show and devoted themselves to helping the poor families of Paris. City living did not suit them so they decided to build a small cottage in 'Le Pays Maudit' so that they could escape into the quiet of this wild and special country when things got too hectic. Alphonse built the cottage with his own hands, even though he could have paid someone to build it, he liked to do honest hard work and said that it kept him fit. It needed a lot of upkeep as he was not a builder by trade and there was not a true right angle in the building, making it crooked and ugly, especially the observation tower where he like to study the stars. But to Alphonse it was a work of art. His wife planted a cherry tree in the small courtyard and within a couple of years it produced a bumper crop of cherries which they both adored and each spring it was laden with masses of fragrant white flowers.

For many years they spent long summers at the cottage and life was good, until Alphonse had business dealings with a young Baron called Balthazar who was jealous of his success. The Baron started to spread rumours about the Gargamels and one by one his best clients and even Alphonse's best friends left him, even though they knew that he was innocent. Everyone was scared of Balthazar and did not confront him or his cronies. Penniless, the Gargamels lost their house in the city, most of their possessions and could no longer help the city children. Balthazar let them keep the cottage, but still insisted on a rent, which they could ill afford. They moved there for good, trying to eke out a living from the land and forest. It was a hard life but they took to it, grateful to have somewhere to live and not be starving on the streets of the city like so many others. Linette and Alphonse kept a couple of cows, a few chickens and the cottage was surrounded by meadows. The path up to the cottage was lined with wild flowers. Alphonse built a bridge over the small pond at the bottom of the rise, they would spend many hours there fishing and watching the pond creatures. Although Alphonse was bitter about what had happened to his business, he was grateful to be able to live in such a beautiful place with the love of his life by his side, he was content with his lot in life.

Many months passed and that second winter there was a ferocious blizzard with high winds and blinding snow. The Gargamels were huddled around the hearth trying to keep warm in front of their small fire when there was banging on the door. They looked at each other frightened at who it could be out in this storm and for a moment they feared it was one of Balthazar's agents come to collect the rent as they had not paid that month. Alphonse went to the door with an iron poker in hand and opened it up just enough to see. There on the doorstep was a basket full of old dirty cloths. He opened the door a bit wider and grabbed the handle of the basket and brought it inside before too much snow could be blown into the cottage. He brought the basket over to his wife and they both started to look through the cloths when they found a baby's leg, this startled them and they moved more of the filthy cloths aside and uncovered a naked little baby girl with a shock of black hair, she seemed to be about eight months old but she was not crying, very pale and seemed to be deathly cold. Instinctively Linette reached into the basket and placed the baby into her clothes next to her skin to warm the poor child up. Alphonse got a blanket and put it around both the woman and child. After half an hour or so the baby girl came round looked at them with big brown eyes and started to cry. They fell in love with her and wanted to care for her.

Whilst Linette had been reviving the baby, Alphonse had found a note at the bottom of the basket. It was from the mother asking them to look after the child as she could no longer feed her. She also mentioned that she had travelled a long way on foot from Paris to find them as she had heard that they had helped the poor children in the past and that she wanted them to look after the baby. There was no mention in the note of the baby's name so the Gargamels decided to name her Celestyn which meant 'Heaven' and to the old couple, she was a gift from Heaven.

Thirteen years passed in no time at all and Celestyn grew into a beautiful teenager, she had long jet black hair that reached to the small of her back, her eyes were pools of dark brown and her skin as white as ivory and soft as goose down.

The Gargamels dotted on her and she never gave them any cause for concern, looked after both of them when they were sick and she did her chores without complaint. She was the perfect daughter in every way. They taught her to read and write, she studied magic with Linette who knew a bit of the art, but it was mostly 'white' magic and together they made healing potions. One day just like any other Linette and Alphonse went out into the forest together to gather some more herbs and mushrooms. Celestyn remained at the cottage reading a book on how to read runes. They had trouble finding their favourite herbs and wandered into a part of the forest where they had not ventured before. Whilst Alphonse was looking for some feverfew plants, Linette was searching for some fly agaric she stumbled through a thicket of bushes as she knew that sometimes mushrooms could be found in deep undergrowth. But once past the thicket she noticed a small clearing with a patch of colourful mushrooms the like of which she had never seen before. She moved towards the patch when she recoiled in horror at seeing some little blue creatures running in and out of the mushrooms, she thought that she was seeing things and shouted for her husband, she took a step backwards to get a better look, but then tragedy struck. She lost her balance and fell heavily smashing her head on a rock. She died instantly.

In the meantime Alphonse had heard her call and came running over to the thicket of bushes. He called her name several times but had no answer, he searched for what seemed like hours and in his panic he blundered through the same thicket of bushes and was met with a sight that made him sink to his knees. In front of him his wife was lying face down on the ground with blood pouring from the side of her head and little blue creatures were climbing all over her! Enraged, Alphonse screamed at the blue creatures and charged at them, he just wanted to get his wife as far away from them as possible, in his mind they were little blue demons and they had caused his wife's death. He picked her up, cradled her in his arms and pushed his way through the bushes, ignoring the fact that his skin was being torn to shreds and that the little blue demons were shouting at him, especially the one dressed in red clothing. His eyes were so full of tears that he could hardly find his way home and when he eventually got back that evening he was a broken man, something deep inside him had snapped, it was his soul.

After that dreadful day, Alphonse Gargamel was a changed man. He could hardly eat or do anything for himself, his already grey hair had turned white overnight and he was pinning for his wife. Their adopted daughter tried her best to help him, but he got snappy with her and found fault in everything she did, this made her very sad and she started to get depressed as well. They spent that next winter with a permanent black cloud over them and those dark winter months seemed like hell on earth. With the return of the sun and the warmth of spring, Alphonse and Celestyn were glad to get out of the cottage, well it had become more of a hovel as he had not been able to keep up with the repairs and the harsh winter had killed off their beloved cherry tree and this was one more nail into Alphonse Gargamel's heart.

This time he had it in his mind to destroy the blue creatures for good, he would hunt them down and kill every last one of them in revenge, he had been stewing over this for months and nothing was going to stop him, even his beloved daughter. He built intricate traps and spent many hours hunting for their village but could never find it again. His anger and thirst for revenge took its toll on his health and one day he never woke up, his poor daughter found him and she had to bury him."

"My smurf, what a tragic story," said Sassette, wiping a tear from her eye. "Yes, but remember, I told you that I was her closest neighbour in those days," answered Homnibus, "she arrived at our house one evening all distraught and for a moment my parents did not know who she was but she blurted out her story and the fact that her adopted father had forbidden her from leaving the estate for the last few months of his life. She came and lived with us all through that spring and summer and we became good friends, I was six years older than her but she was bright and had a sharp wit. Our age difference meant nothing. I never wanted those summer days to end. "

"Papa, you were there, why did you not try to follow him and try and explain what happened?" asked Sassette. "We did try, but each time he refused to talk to us, he just got angrier, his heart was broken and he could not forgive us. Celestyn would talk to us but mainly to tell us to go away as we were making his father ill and making things difficult for her, so we respected her wishes and bothered them no more," replied Papa Smurf who looked very sad. "That is in the past now and cannot be changed," said Homnibus, "The story does not end there, as I said before, she was staying with us over the summer and unfortunately, it was time for me to return to the Wizard school where I was starting a new job as a teacher and Celestyn did not want to impose on my parent's hospitality any further, so she returned back to the hovel. That autumn she kept herself busy, sorting out the vegetable patch, making potions to sell at the market a day's walk away and tending to the cherry tree and collecting its bounty.

One day, she had a visitor to the hovel it was one of Balthazar's agents who had come for the rent. She only had a few pennies to her name and he took every last one of them, threatening to burn the hovel to the ground if she did not pay up the rest before the end of that week. She was very upset about this and once again came to my family for help. I did a collection at the Wizard school and we managed to scrape together the required amount to keep Balthazar from her door. One day things changed for her and it began with a trip to collect some firewood in the forest. She had got together a big bundle of sticks and had heaved it onto her back and started to walk back to her home when she heard a commotion coming from the waterfall. She dropped the bundle and ran to the source of the sound and saw a handsome young hunter floundering in the water at the base of the falls. He kept going under, so she stripped down to her underclothes and jumped in to rescue him.

She took him back to the hovel and warmed him up in a tub of warm water she had kept his undergarments on as she was too shy to strip him off completely. She was falling in love with him, his piercing blue eyes and blond hair mesmerised her and she thought of un-lady like things. He was very grateful to her for saving his life and for a couple of nights he stayed with her and she was very happy to have some company at last. He hunted a deer for her and together they smoked the meat for the winter, this would provide much needed food for the coming cold. On the last night, the handsome hunter took out a flask of mead and asked Celestyn to join him in a toast to celebrate his good fortune in meeting her. She drank the mead, but unbeknown to her, he had put a love potion into it, not that he needed to as she was smitten with him. They spent that night together in bed. The next morning, her handsome young hunter had left without even leaving a note. She was heartbroken and cried all that morning. She even travelled into town to look for him, she asked lots of people, but no-one could remember seeing him, it was as if he had never existed. All the way back to the hovel, Celestyn was followed by a raven, always just out of her sight, but she kept stopping to look up and could feel an evil presence, watching her every move. She was glad to get into the safety of the hovel and over the next few weeks she concentrated on reading all the books on the shelves and making more potions to sell and did not leave her home.

Six weeks later she ventured out into the town as she was feeling ill and went to see the local wise woman as she was feeling bloated and not herself. This was when she learnt that she was pregnant. Celestyn was at first angry that the hunter had done this to her, but then as the weeks passed and she felt the first fluttering in her belly, she grew to love the baby and looked forward to meeting him or her."

"Homnibus, were you not angry with her for going off with another man?" asked Sassette, "No, I was a teacher, women were not allowed at the Wizard school, I was just a friend, we never had a romantic liaison if that's what you were thinking." "Oh sorry I was just checking," said Sassette who blushed purple. Homnibus then carried on with his story; "Later that summer, Celestyn came to stay with us again at our house and my mother Margaret dotted on her and looked after her as if she was her own daughter, she was more excited than anyone. My father just kept out of the way and one day asked me to accompany him on a trip into the forest. There he had a heart to heart with me and asked if I was going to do the decent thing and marry the girl even if the child was not mine. I could not give my father an answer straight away as marrying would mean me giving up being a teacher. To my shame I eventually chose teaching over her honour and have always regretted it.

Summer was over too quickly that year and I said my goodbyes to Celestyn as I prepared to return to teaching and wished her all the best for the future. My mother moved in with her at the hovel as this is where Celestyn wanted to be for the birth of the baby. In all this time Balthazar's cronies did not turn up for the rent and Celestyn was grateful for small mercies, but she still had the feeling of being watched and was always on the lookout for ravens paying too much attention to her.

On the eve of Samhain, Celestyn woke with the first pains of labour and all through that day she walked around trying to keep moving to ease her pain. That night she lay down on her bed and Margaret became her midwife, together they brought a new life into the world, as the baby was being born both Celestyn and Margaret had a feeling of being watched and for a moment they imagined that they saw Alphonse and Linette standing by the fireplace and that they had been smiling at them. The baby boy was strong and had a good pair of lungs. He would be named after his grandfather Alphonse Gargamel in honour of his memory and what he had meant to Celestyn. Even when she was cradling her new born son in her arms and looking deep into his milky baby blue eyes, she knew that he was special and the deep bond between mother and child was forged that night. Welcome to the world Gargy she whispered to him. Up in the rafters of the hovel, the raven had seen all and flew off into the moonlight through the open window."

"Well we'd better get moving, it's getting dark and we need to get back to the village. I just need to bury this cauldron under the tree," said Homnibus and he bent down and using the same ash shovel he used earlier, he dug a hole and placed the cauldron inside. "Goodbye Gargamel it was interesting knowing you," sighed Homnibus. Papa Smurf and Sassette were not sure what to say but they both placed a flower each on the grave and then all three of them walked back towards the village as the sun finally dipped under the horizon.

To be continued.

This chapter would have been much longer, but it seems apt to stop it just here and the next chapter will include Gargamel's childhood and then the story will return to the (present time) and life for the Smurfs will never be the same again. Merry Christmas!


	4. Revenge for Past Injustices'

The Penultimate Solution Chapter 4

'Revenge for past injustices'

The market place was very busy. It was held each Saturday morning just outside the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The air was heavy with the smell of exotic spices fresh produce and the not so fragrant smell of animals such as pigs and chickens who were awaiting their fate at the butcher's shop next to the market.

A plump elderly woman in ragged clothes walked down the centre of the market, she paused at a fruit stall and picked up a couple of apples, the stall owner took a coin from her. She put the fruit in the basket that hung from her arm and carried on walking down the street. She looked as if she was in her mid sixties and she had short grey hair and a beaky nose. Her name was Celestyn.

After a few more visits to different stalls, Celestyn was ready to return to her lodgings a few miles down the road when she was violently knocked to the ground from behind. She lay face down in the dust gasping as another woman was lying on top of her and having an argument with a man. The man made a grab for the other woman and she stood up and hit the man full in the face with her fist and he went down like a ton of bricks. The crowd that had gathered around the fighters cheered!

Celestyn managed to get herself up into a sitting position and turned around to see who had landed on her and the fighting woman offered her hand to help her up. Now Celestyn liked people who stood up for themselves and it was refreshing to see this young lady being able to fight off a bully of a man. She took the offered hand willingly.

Now that she was upright she was able to have a good look at the mystery woman, she was quite tall, almost six foot in height wore a black dress, red boots and she had beautiful red auburn hair that cascaded down her back.

The older woman could not tear her eyes away from this younger woman. She felt like she had known her for years as she seemed strangely familiar.

"Do I know you?" asked Celestyn "I don't think so, " replied the stranger. "I must have seen you around the market then," Celestyn muttered to herself. "Are you sure that you're OK, you look a bit shaken up and I'm sorry but your groceries have all landed in the dirt, I can pay for any damage. " replied the kind auburn haired stranger.

"There's no need, I'll just clean them up, none of them are damaged, but I think I'm in need of something strong to settle my nerves. You gave me quite a shock back there," replied Celestyn putting on her 'poor old lady' act as she was intrigued with this woman and wanted to know more about her. "Yes, I think I'll need a drink as well, lets go to that Tavern in the next street, I hear they have good wine." replied the younger woman with a smile that seemed familiar and together they gathered up the fallen groceries and walked to the Tavern.

_'Back at the Smurf Village'_

"Sassette, don't be so upset, you can't blame them for wanting to celebrate?" shouted Nat through the locked bedroom door. "Leave me alone! I just think you are all horrible!" shouted Sassette on the other side of the door and gave it a good kick as well for emphasis.

"Do as she says and leave her alone. She's had a rough time and is feeling very confused about her feelings at this time. She needs time to be on her own and think," replied Papa Smurf who had come up behind Nat and placed a fatherly hand on his shoulder. "Why does she have any feelings for that dead evil wizard anyway? I mean it was only a spell that made her and we 'the Smurflings' are her real family, I just don't understand why she even 'loved' him?"

"There, there little Smurfling love can make you do strange things and who is to say who is deserving of anyone's love? Some make good choices and others bad but the need to love and be loved is strong in all of us, even Humans." replied the elderly Smurf.

Nat took one last look at the bedroom door and went out of the mushroom house with Papa to join the others at the party to celebrate the defeat of Gargamel. Homnibus had already left to return to his home as he wanted to check up on Azrael. That poor cat would need someone to look after it now and Homnibus hoped that the evil wizards feline would accept him as his new master. He also did not want to attend the party as it would be disrespectful to Gargamel's mother and he still had some feelings for her.

He was wondering how to tell her the awful news about her son's death once she returned from her trip abroad. She had never said where she was going but lately she had been talking about finding out about her adopted family so she might not have gone too far from the 'Pays Maudit'.

The party was in full swing, Baker Smurf had made a giant cake to celebrate their victory over the 'evil one' and Painter Smurf was working on a giant canvas of the battle with the monster but he had used his artistic license to represent the monster as Gargamel himself. Papa Smurf looked at his fellow Smurfs and although he did not like them revelling in the death of another he felt that they needed to let their anger and stress out as Gargamel had been a thorn in their side for a long time.

The Smurfberry wine flowed freely that night and everysmurf had a tale to tell about their battles with the evil wizard and one by one they realised that without Gargamel to fight their lives might be a little easier from now on.

But who needs excitement?

_Back at the Tavern in Paris_

Gargamel's mother Celestyn and the mysterious lady are sitting outside a Tavern with a glass of wine each. The stranger is the first to speak "Well, what brings you to Paris if you don't mind me asking?" Celestyn looked around and moved closer to the other woman and motioned her to listen carefully.

"I'll be putting you across my knee in a minute my lad, I know who you are. How did you think you could fool me your own mother?" she whispered in a gravely voice. The auburn haired woman recoiled as if she had been hit in the face and she started to bluster "What, what do you mean?" and she put a hand to her chest as if she had been affronted. "Drop the disguise Gargamel, I know it's you, show yourself this instant!" growled his mother and she glared at him under hooded eyes.

Although it was a busy street, no-one noticed that two women were sitting at the table one minute and the next it was a man and a woman. Gargamel had taken out his wand and with a flick of his wrist his disguise had melted away. The thick auburn red hair had been replaced by a balding head with messy black lanky hair hanging around the ears and the back of his head, the black dress was replaced by a worn and patched cassock and the red leather boots were replaced with red leggings and simple ankle boots. "I've never been able to fool you have I mother?" said Gargamel with a sigh. Celestyn stood up and gave Gargamel a clip around the ear "Ouch! What was that for?" squealed the wizard. "That, Gargamel is for spying on me. Why are you here in Paris? You knew that I was here on personal business. It has nothing to do with you. Why don't you just go back home and annoy the Smurfs instead?" she practically spat this out at him. "I can't go home, well not yet," replied Gargamel, he continued "I've got some important news that could help us finally defeat the person that has given our family so much grief over the years, I know that's why you came to Paris isn't it? To dig up some dirt on him?"

Celestyn sat back down and continued to stare at her son. He could drive her to distraction most of the time but he seemed so sincere, she had to listen to what he had to say. "Well spit it out boy! What do you have?" she replied.

"Shush, not here. Is there somewhere more private where we can speak?" whispered the evil wizard suddenly feeling exposed and vulnerable out in the street. His mother got up and said " Come lets go back to my lodgings we'll be able to talk further," and she started to walk with Gargamel at her side. Paris was a big city and in all honesty she had been feeling a little lonely and homesick. Having her son with her made her feel protected and she would soon get all the information she needed to get rid of her own nemesis for good.

Mother and son had got back to her lodgings quite late in the afternoon and then they had gone out for a meal together. Each time Gargamel tried to tell his mum the important news he had she would tell him that they would speak about it in the morning. He so wanted her to be proud of him. He had managed to get hold of the most important book of black magic that any wizard could possess and he way dying to tell her about it and what he had done to the Smurfs. But he bit his tongue as much as he could and slowly he relaxed and even grew to enjoy his mother's company. At least she was not cooking the food so he could enjoy that as well.

_The next morning at the Smurf village_

"Oh my head," groaned Hefty as he sat up in bed. He had in fact been lying sideways across his bed. "No more Smurfberry wine for me ever again!" he vowed to himself. He slowly got up and had to steady himself before he managed to shuffle over to the bathroom and did his daily ablution. Once he felt that he could face the world he stepped out of his door into the village.

What a mess outside. Chairs and tables were strewn all over the place, broken glass on the ground and the bunting had blown into the surrounding trees. What a hell of a party they had last night.

Hefty made his way to the main dining hall and was greeted with the sight of all his Smurf family looking the worst for wear. "My Smurf! Look at us, if Gargamel was still around we would have never let ourselves get in such a state! He'd Smurf us in no time!"

Brainy Smurf looked up from a book he had been reading, he was the only Smurf apart from the Smurflings and Baby who had abstained from Smurfberry wine and he replied "Well, it seems that he used to keep us all sober. We wouldn't have dared to let ourselves get so inebriated in case he came to the village. But of course now we can relax and let our hair down. And as Papa Smurf always says, because Papa Smurf is always right, we should.." Brainy did not get to finish his sentence as Hefty Smurf had clamped his hand over the myopic Smurf's mouth and rudely shoved him out of the dining hall.

"Thanks Hefty," said Papa Smurf he was driving us a bit potty. We are all suffering this morning and he would not shut up about it being our fault and what do you expect if you drink until four o'clock in the morning?" The village elder looked tired but it seemed as if a great weight had been taken off his shoulders. His family were safe, they were rebuilding their homes and even though they had lost Miner it could have been so much worse. Their biggest foe had been defeated and Papa felt that he could relax at long last.

Papa got up from the table once he and the other Smurfs had finished their breakfast, Brainy had been let back in as they could not let him go hungry even if he was annoying. The elderly Smurf went over to Hefty and whispered "Could you do me a favour and help me recover some items from the hovel?" he looked around to make sure no-one was listening and added "I want to get some of the spell books and equipment, now that Gargamel has no further use for them," Hefty smiled and together they set off to see what they could salvage.

_The same morning in Paris at Celestyn's lodgings_

Gargamel woke to the smell of something burning. His mother was making breakfast and it did not smell very appetising at all. He got up off the floor where he had been sleeping and slowly stretched out his aching joints. "You could have at least let me have a couple more blankets to cushion me from this hard floor" he said to his mother. She looked up from the pot on the stove and replied "Come, sit down and have some breakfast," Gargamel looked at the burnt offerings of what looked like bacon and maybe something that could be egg and he held up a hand and said "Um, I'd rather not, feeling a bit rough," he rubbed his stomach for emphasis.

"Sit down now!" she shouted and before he could help himself he was sat at the table like an obedient son. They ate their 'breakfast mush' in silence and once they had finished their cups of tea. His mother looked him in the eye and asked "Well show me what you have then?"

Gargamel reached into the bag that he had been carrying since stealing it from Homnibus and brought out the fabled book. His mothers eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Oh, my dear Lord how did you get hold of this book? This will indeed be the answer to all our prayers!

He will never be able to defeat us when we have this power at our disposal. I could kiss you!" And she did.

They spent the rest of that day reading the book together. Practicing some of the spells but being very careful not to use the most powerful ones. Not yet.

They made preparations to leave the very next morning and once they returned to the Pays Maudit with their new weapon, no-one would be able to stand in their way. Not even Balthazar!

To be continued.


	5. Chapter 5

The Penultimate Solution Chapter 5

'The past cannot be forgiven'

It was hard work going through Gargamel's library. Well you could not rightly call it a library as most of the books were not even in alphabetical order or in any kind of order to be quite honest.

Hefty was a great help to Papa, the strong Smurf had no trouble pulling the books out of the shelves and then dropping down behind each book and giving it a good push making each fall onto the floor.

Then Papa would come along and spray the books with a special shrinking potion so that they were the right size for a Smurf. Once shrunk they would stay that way forever. Papa did not want the books to go to waste. Even evil wizard's books could be of use.

It was early afternoon before they took a break and went back to the village to get a bite to eat and bring back a couple of wheelbarrows for their haul. There was no fresh bread in the village as Baker Smurf was still sleeping but they managed to find something. They were in the village for just a few minutes before setting off again.

Meanwhile in another part of the forest, Homnibus was feeding Azrael some bits of cooked chicken. The cat had seemed wary of him at first when the kindly wizard had come back home the previous evening but Azrael was loving all this attention and food. Most of all he was with a human who actually spoke kindly to him and did not strike out at him.

Homnibus sat at his kitchen table and watched the feline eating. He was deep in thought. He remembered that Gargamel in his youth had kept a diary each year from the age of eight and that he kept them in the hovel in a secret box in one of the hovel's internal walls.

He was not sure where exactly but it would be easy enough to use a magic spell to reveal the hiding place. No-one else knew about these diaries apart from Gargamel's mother and he had learned about them from her. She had come to him in despair one day as her only son had locked himself away in his room for weeks after the tragedy that changed Gargamel's outlook on life forever. Homnibus often wondered what he would have been like if the young Gargamel had not fallen in love so young.

The long white bearded wizard thought that now it would be his duty to recover these diaries for Celestyn at least she would have something to remember her son by. Something personal and unique. It was the least he could do for her.

He got up off his chair and moved towards Azrael who automatically flinched when he saw a human approaching, but this human was kind and a big hand came down and gave him the most exquisite tickle behind the ears that made him purr like an engine.

Homnibus then went into the bedroom and collected a few magical objects and a satchel. Picking up a walking stick he smiled at Azrael and left the house closing the door behind him. The grateful cat looked at the closed door for a few minutes and then went back to eating, purring all the time.

The Smurf village was slowly getting back to normal. Everyone was still suffering with hangovers so the work that needed to be done was not making much progress at all, which infuriated Brainy Smurf.

"Come on Baker, we need loaves of bread for lunch and supper, get on with it!" shouted the myopic Smurf. Baker was just sitting at his table looking at the flour, yeast and warm water that he had to mix together and all of a sudden he turned a bright shade of green and ran off to his bathroom.

"Oh for goodness sake Smurf! It's your own fault if you feel sick! Don't think you'll get any sympathy from me!" growled Brainy and he marched off in a huff.

Things were going badly, there had to be some order in the village and to come to think of it where was Papa? He should be here sorting everyone out not going off into the forest. Brainy carried on marching with a black cloud over his head. He was going to have words, strong words with the next Smurf he came across and they'd better watch out!

Back at the hovel, Papa Smurf was trying to sort some of the shrunken books and there were a few that he rejected as he already had a copy or they were so badly damaged or torn that they would be dangerous to use. No wonder some of Gargamel's spells went wrong when he was using damaged books. But then if he had been a better wizard he would not have attempted the spells in the first place.

Hefty helped to stack the useful books into the wheelbarrows and once that job was done he told Papa that he was going to have a nose around the hovel. The strong Smurf jumped up to the highest shelves and looked at the rows and rows of bottles of potions and ingredients gathering dust.

"Hey Papa, have you got any use for this stuff?" shouted Hefty down to the elderly village leader. Papa looked up and pulled a face,

"I don't trust anything that Gargamel picked or prepared. It might be dangerous to use. Better leave them alone," replied Papa.

Hefty then continued with his exploration and he jumped across to some lower shelves where cages of all sorts were stored. He gave a shudder as he passed them. Too many bad memories of being trapped in those abominations. There was not much else to see in the hovel. No pictures on the walls no other books of any kind. There was a 'Voodoo' type doll with pins stuck all over something that looked like a Smurf. He gave another shudder and gave the monstrosity a kick as he passed by. He was feeling bored. He jumped down next to Papa.

"Are we finished yet? " he asked trying not to yawn. "Yes my little Smurf, we've got all the books I can use, most of the books in the cellar were water damaged and could not be read and as for that 'Big Book of Spells' it can stay where it is. I don't trust it one bit, it tried to make me fall for its silly riddles. I won't be made fool of by a book!" replied Papa looking towards the open trapdoor.

They both started to move the wheelbarrows to return to the village when they heard the distinctive sound of human footsteps coming up the path to the hovel.

"Oh my Smurf! Who could that be? Quick hide!" whispered Papa and he and Hefty dived behind a bookshelf. The door to the hovel was closed and they could hear the footsteps get nearer then they stopped and the door slowly opened with a deafening creak that seemed to go on forever. For a minute they felt panicked into thinking that the evil wizard was back and that it had all been a dream.

A long shadow surrounded by light burst across the floor of the hovel and dust from the floor was blown around. Papa peeped around the bookshelf but he could not see who it was as the setting sun was now streaming through the doorway.

The tall human walked further into the hovel, the Smurfs then recognised the blue gown and long white beard as belonging to Homnibus their favourite human wizard.

Homnibus just saw a couple of Smurf sized wheelbarrows stuffed with books just sitting in the middle of the hovel.

"Papa Smurf are you here?" he called out into the gloom.

"Yes Homnibus, how good to see you! What brings you here?" beamed Papa as he and Hefty came out from behind the bookshelf. They stood in front of the human but could not see his face due to the glare of the sun. They were not ready for what Homnibus said next.

"How dare you! Are you thieving those books? They do not belong to you!" shouted Homnibus his fists had started to clench and his arms were held stiffly by his sides.

"Return those books to their correct size this instant! And return them to the shelves!"

"But, but Homnibus I've shrunk them with the Empega spell, it cannot be undone," squeaked Papa Smurf

"Yeah why are you so bothered about a few books?" questioned Hefty now feeling angry that Papa was being shouted at.

"Gargamel is dead and gone, he has no need for them or did you want them for yourself?" growled the strong Smurf.

Homnibus turned slightly and pushed the hovel door so hard that dust came out of the framework and bits of straw fell from the ceiling. Now that the glare was gone they could see how angry Homnibus was. They were so used to seeing the kindly wizard being nice they were not prepared for the emotions of humans that could change in an instant making even the nicest person turn into a monster!

"Those books didn't even belong to Gargamel, they were his grandmother's books, priceless a family heirloom and you have destroyed them! Get out of my sight! Leave now before I do something that I'll regret!" screamed Homnibus almost turning purple with rage. The Smurfs did not need to be told twice, they abandoned their haul of books climbed out of the window and ran back to their village as fast as they could.

The enraged wizard watched the little blue thieves running for their lives back to the depths of the forest and then he turned away from the window and moved towards the little wheelbarrows full of tiny books and let out a giggle which turned into chuckle then into a laugh and finally a maniacal cackle.

He threw up his hands above his head and shouted

"It's great to be back, Mwa,ha,ha,ha!"

And in an instant the blue robes turned into a black tattered cassock. The long white beard and white hair were gone and replaced with a bald head with a greasy ring of hair. Gargamel and his mother had got back earlier that morning using one of the spells from the forbidden book. It had saved them many tedious days of travel and Gargamel had been anxious to get back to see how his plan had panned out.

It seems that it had all gone well. The Smurfs thought he was dead and he was not surprised that they were already trying to steal his stuff. He walked around what was left of his hovel.

It was not fit to live in now as half the roof had burned down and water had done its worst.

Being back home made him think about his cat for the first time. He wondered how Azrael was faring. More likely that mangy cat had found a new owner, he had never been that loyal. Never mind as long as he was being looked after by someone else it would save him the bother of having to feed that feline. Keeping it hungry was the only thing that kept it keen to hunt Smurfs for him.

His shoe knocked over one of the wheelbarrows full of his old books and he bent down to pick up the now useless volumes. They might as well be bits of wood only fit for the fire. He let out a cackle at this thought. The evil wizard burning books, how very evil!

He did not have long to enjoy that thought as now it was his turn to hide as he could hear someone coming up the path to the hovel. He just had time to hide behind the door as it creaked open. He stayed as still and quiet as possible, with one hand he slowly reached for his wand that he kept in a secret pocket sewn into his leggings.

The door was wide open and the stranger moved further into the hovel. Gargamel saw at once that it was Homnibus!

The elderly wizard stopped for a moment by the scattered tiny books and little wheelbarrows and he picked one wheelbarrow up with a puzzled look on his face. He called out but no-one answered. Gargamel was holding his breath as he thought the other wizard might hear him breathing.

Homnibus set the wheelbarrow down again and headed for the far wall of the kitchen. He then moved methodically along the walls using his wand to search. The tip of the wand changed colour as he inched along and the closer to the fireplace he got the redder the tip became. The blue robed wizard then knelt down by the side of the fireplace and waved his wand, whispering some incantation that the evil wizard hiding behind the door could not quite hear.

Then all of a sudden Gargamel knew what Homnibus was doing. Yet another thief! He could not help himself and burst out from behind the door shouting:

"Don't you dare! Those are private!" and he pointed his wand which emitted a volley of blue tendrils at the startled bearded wizard who then crumpled onto the floor unable to move totally enveloped by the magical coils but he could still see, hear and talk.

"What is the meaning of this? Why are you taking my diaries?" spat Gargamel inches away from Homnibus's face. The latter looked shocked but then started to smile.

"You are alive! I thought even you would not be stupid enough to turn yourself into a monster without having a failsafe of some kind. Your mother would have been heartbroken if you had truly perished" answered the elderly wizard who looked relieved but worried at the same time.

"Mummy knows I'm alive. I've been with her in Paris. Now why are you taking my diaries?"

"I was going to give them to your mother for safe keeping just in case the hovel got burned down. You don't want all of your property falling into the wrong hands or being destroyed." said Homnibus trying to look sincere.

"How kind of you! Why are you doing this? What's in it for you?" sneered the evil wizard still not trusting Homnibus.

"Believe it or not I still have feelings for your mother and I still worry about you. Have you totally forgotten about your childhood and how I was a big part of it until the tragedy?" answered Homnibus trying to look for a glimmer of trust in Gargamel's dark eyes.

And for a fleeting moment Homnibus saw what he had been looking for. That small vulnerable child, all alone and hated by his peers because of his poverty and the fact that his mother was a social outcast due to the lies of Balthazar.

Gargamel with difficulty broke his gaze away from Homnibus and went to the spot next to the side of the fireplace.

There was a flash of red and the younger wizard came back with eight black five year diaries.

"I haven't kept a diary for the last five years due to the Smurfs taking up my time. Can't believe how obsessed I was with them. But now thanks to that forbidden book of spells mummy and I can rightfully claim what is ours and its worth more than all the gold I could ever make out of Smurfs," laughed Gargamel.

"What do you mean, rightfully yours?" questioned Homnibus, trying to think of what on earth the other wizard was talking about.

"It doesn't concern you for now. But when the time comes you need to pick your side carefully," sneered Gargamel fixing the older wizard with a gaze that was quite disconcerting. He moved towards the kitchen table.

"Let's reminisce shall we? That's what I like about diaries you can keep all your thoughts from long ago in one place and revisit them whenever you want. You can relieve happy moments and sad moments over and over again. It can be quite therapeutic don't you know?" And with that he settled himself down at the table with all the diaries in front of him and opened the first one he had ever started. He read out the first entry:

_31st October_

_Today is my eight birthday and mummy has given me this five year diary so that I can write down all my thoughts._

_Soon my brother or sister will be born, mummy is due any day now. I'm so exited! I know that we will be the happiest we've ever been now that we live in town and krindle my step dad has been so kind to both of us... _

Gargamel looked up from his diary and fixed Homnibus with a steely glare.

"The sweet innocence of youth, how wrong was I?" growled the evil wizard.

Back at the Smurf village, Papa and Hefty were out of breath after having run all the way from the hovel. They had not stopped to rest they had not even looked back. They both knew deep down that something was very wrong but they were too out of breath to talk to each other about it.

Once in the village they tried to look as composed as they could and walked towards Papa Smurf's lab.

The elderly Smurf and Hefty just needed somewhere in peace and quiet so that they could discuss what they had seen and think of what to do next without alerting everyone other Smurf.

Once inside the lab, Papa slammed the door shut behind Hefty they both had their backs to the door and slid down it until they sat on the floor.

Once their breathing had got back to normal, Hefty was the first to speak,

"Papa, that wasn't Homnibus was it?" he gasped

"No my little Smurf. It certainty was not. He did not smell like Homnibus. That stench was something I hoped I would never have to experience again..Garagamel!"

The two Smurfs just looked at each other and wondered what this meant for their future, if there was to be a future for them at all?

Back at the hovel Homnibus was trying to look interested in listening to the contents of Gargamel's diaries. They were full of boring information about finding interesting stones, being friends with other children then being enemies with others. He had even listed all the teachers that he liked and hated at Wizard school. It was good to know that Homnibus was in the 'like' list. The only thing that stood out was the birth of Gargamel's half sister in mid November. They named her Sally.

Celestyn had married a cousin of Balthazar He was a tall lanky man with a chiselled face and bright orange hair. It was more a marriage of convenience as Krindle (that was his name) needed to be married to inherit a family fortune and no-one fancied him.

Balthazar made things so difficult for Celestyn that she was eventually blackmailed into marrying someone she did not love. Balthazar was now bored with her and was not bothered that she was now with another man but he wanted to keep her close to him so by having her marry into the family she would never be able to escape him. Celestyn tried to fight against Balthazar's tyranny but she had to be strong for her son as he was all she had in the world at that time and now a year later, the birth of her daughter meant that her fate was sealed.

Sally was a bonny little girl and Gargamel loved helping mummy look after her. He would play for hours with her and he vowed to protect and love her all his life.

When she was five years old they had the best summer ever when they went to stay with Homnibus and his family back in the forest. Gargamel felt more at home in the woods and open spaces. The town life did not suit him at all.

The young Gargamel or 'Gargy' as his sister called him was soon to turn thirteen years old that Autumn and his dear Sally would turn six years old. Those early years were the happiest he had ever known. But things would never be the same again and that young man's outlook on life would be clouded forevermore.

Gargamel looked up from the second diary. Out of all of them this one was the most threadbare looking one. Most of the pages were ripped and some of the writing was blotchy as if water or tears had made the ink run.

"This second diary ,Homnibus from the age of thirteen until my eighteenth birthday is my most precious one. This is where I became a man and gave up childish things, where I realised that it was not worth being good and nice to others as they would just use it against me. This is the time I wised up and knew that I had to do everything for myself no matter what the cost to others around me. As now I was truly alone."

Homnibus looked at Gargamel with sad eyes and replied,

"Yes, I remember that time well Gargamel. You were lost to us all and your mother was besides herself with worry, she almost gave up all hope. But you did come back, although I've always regretted what you became,"

"Regret? Regret?" spat Gargamel suddenly angry. "It was the one thing keeping me going! My hate for that man, the things he did to Sally and how he broke my heart by..by..," The younger wizard laid his head on the table and curled his arms around his head as if to protect himself. He was trying hard to stop himself from breaking down but the harder he tried the worse it became until a loud sob escaped from his lips and he let the tears run free.

Homnibus wanted to go and comfort him but of course he was still tied up with the magic tendrils. All the could do was wait until Gargamel had regained his composure. It seemed that the diaries had not been seen for quite a few years. Now all the old memories good and bad were flooding back overwhelming both of them as now Homnibus felt a pang of sorrow and maybe a little bit of guilt as to what had happened to the little boy he once knew.

To be continued.


	6. Chapter 6

The Penultimate Solution (Chapter 6)

'Things could have been better'

**(This chapter is written in the form of a 'flashback' to Gargamel's past)**

Things had not been going well for Krindle who was now Gargamel's step dad. He had lost his job and had taken to drinking heavily. Each and every night he would be out at the tavern until chucking out time, and he would come home and shout at the children even if they were fast asleep in bed. He told them in no uncertain terms that they had 'ruined his life and he wished that they would die'.

Mummy would end up in the corner of the room cowering in fear with a bloody nose if she so much as dared shout back at him.

It was winter now and any money they had all went on the drink. Gargamel and Sally had to go out and beg for charity.

The people of the town knew what was going on but they would not help as Lord Balthazar forbade any begging in the street and anyway if they did give any money they thought that it would just go to drink.

The children almost died that winter until a chance visit by Homnibus who took them home with him and kept them fed and warm until the following Spring.

The day they had to return to the town was very sad. They had been well cared for by Homnibus' s mother and felt that they were part of a large happy family. But the love for their mother was strong and although Gargamel had visited his mum several times during that winter, she always sent him away saying that she could look after herself. It pained his heart to see his mother being so ill treated but he knew that she was letting it happen for the sake of both her children. His Godfather (as he like to be called) Balthazar seemed to have a deep hatred for their small family and he vowed that one day he would try and find out why.

On their return the violence started as soon as the children stepped over the threshold of their run down townhouse. Krindle grabbed Gargamel by the throat and told him that he would never be loved as a son as he was a bastard and would always be one. The young man managed to look Krindle in the eye with all the defiance he could muster whilst being held against the wall. He wanted to spit in his step father's face but he knew that it would mean an extra hard beating for him and his mum if he did. He lowered his eyes and looked as if he had given up. Sometimes he wished that Krindle would kill him, so that he would not have to go through this daily torment that was called life. All he wished for was a normal life such as he had known years before when staying with Homnibus's family. The elderly Wizard had saved his life so many times, but the bad times seemed to outweigh the good.

From that day on the young boy's heart cracked a little. He longed to have a father like most other children. They knew their origins. They had an idea of what they would turn out to be.

Gargamel kept asking his Mummy Celestyn who his dad was but all she could say was that he was a blond haired hunter who had vanished without a trace. But she did enjoy recounting their meeting, very short romance. She told him that his birth was the best thing that had ever happened to her and that he should never forget that everyone has at least one person that loves them.

She was proud of her son, he was almost fourteen now and taller than her, she loved to run her hand through his mop of black unruly hair, it was a pain to comb but she enjoyed the close bond they had. It made them forget their troubles even if just for a short while. She also loved her daughter Sally but her love was clouded by her hatred of her father. She had stopped feeling guilty about her son not knowing who his dad was. It was much better this way.

Sally on the other hand knew exactly who her father was and she sometimes wished that she did not know. She held a deep and terrible secret and could not speak of it with either her mother Celestyn or her step brother Gargamel, but suffice to say that she wished that Krindle her dad would die in torment.

Daily life was the same as ever, Celestyn had a job at the local wash house and would bring Sally along with her. They spent long days washing clothes and sheets and their hands would be red raw. It was hard work but they were away from home and the evil that lurked within.

In the meantime Gargamel attended the Wizard school where he was just an average pupil. He did love making things though and he was the star pupil in his woodwork and metalwork classes, always making intricate objects and amazing machines.

Spells on the other hand were difficult for him as they required great concentration skills. His home life conspired against him, he could not get the images of his mummy being beaten to a pulp yet again out of his mind.

Of course the other students hated him just because of who he was, they did not give him a chance to even try to make friends as they did not want to be associated with the 'Gargamels'. He drifted through school in a bubble touching no-one and no-one touching him.

Until the day he saw her..

The most beautiful girl he had ever seen...Her hair was as black and long as a winter night, her skin the colour of nutmeg and her voice made him go weak at the knees. They met one day after school. He had just been in a fight with a gang of kids from a rival school and despite being outnumbered he managed to fight them off, but he had paid a price for his escape, he had lost a few of his front teeth and his clothes were all torn, he started to worry about how they would afford to replace them.

He went down to the river to wash himself and check how many teeth he actually had left. He bent down and cried out when he realised that his knee was hurting more than he had realised. Maybe it was just the fact that the rush of adrenaline was dissipating and each injury was making itself know.

A voice answered him and he turned round quickly, overbalancing himself and fell in the river.

Everything went black for a while and when he came round he was on the riverbank soaking wet. As he opened his eyes and tried to focus he could make out the outline of a person sitting next to him.

"Are you an Angel?" was all he could utter

"Course not, silly, and you're not a fish. What on earth has happened to you?"

" This? Just my weekly beating. Should we not start with introducing ourselves, I'm Gargamel, what's your name?" he asked as he slowly got up to a sitting position.

"Hi, I'm Ranja nice to meet you Gargamel"

"Are you not scared of me? Don't you know about my family? The way everyone in this town seems to hate us ?" He felt bad about being so abrupt with her. It was just that he was feeling defensive now that he was missing most of his teeth. How could she be interested in him?

"I like interesting people. I've heard everything that they say about you, your mother, Sally your sister and step dad. A lot of it I could never repeat. But I've seen you around after school and I just thought to myself, he can't be that bad not after I saw you help that cat," she replied fixing him with her dark sparkling eyes.

"What cat..oh...that cat!"

Several weeks earlier Gargamel had been walking past the river when he saw some older boys ahead of him throwing a sack into the water and running off laughing. Gargamel had hidden himself behind a bush as they ran past and he just heard a couple of words mentioning kittens.

Checking that the coast was clear, he ran to the riverbank and saw that the sack had got snagged onto a branch that had half fallen into the river but was still attached to a tree. He managed to crawl out along the limb and grabbed hold of the sack.

Back on dry ground he undid the rope tying the sack closed and found a very pregnant black and white cat. She was terrified and tried to run off but could hardly move due to her swollen belly and it seemed that her kittens were ready to be born at any time.

He did his best to dry her off and carrying her in his arms he made his way to an old shed at the edge of the town where he went sometimes to think.

He made the cat a little nest, found some old rags for her to lie on. He stayed with her as long as he could that afternoon and evening. Even when he returned home and received a clip round the ears from Krindle, he did not mind as he was more concerned about that cat and her babies.

The next morning he got up very early and rushed to the shed. At first he could not find the cat and he got upset thinking that she had not liked the nest he had made her, but after sitting in the dark shed for a while and listening very intently he could just make out some tiny little squeals.

He went to the back of the shed and moved a few boxes and there he saw the cat with a couple of ginger kittens. The mother cat looked up at Gargamel and seemed to smile at him. He was on cloud nine for the rest of that day.

Little did he know that Ranja had seen the kittens as well and was bringing food for the cat. She had been keeping an eye on Gargamel in secret for quite a few months. There was something about him that made her yearn for him and in her eyes he was the most handsome, gentle and caring boy in the whole school.

"So it was you helping me to feed her. Wish I'd known earlier I was so hungry everyday but I had to make sure she had enough to eat,"

"This is why you can't be that bad, you have empathy for animals even when you are in desperate circumstances yourself, that makes you very special,"

"Thanks but I'd rather that you didn't patronise me," answered Gargamel and he must have looked at Ranja in such a way that she could not help herself and she moved forward and they shared a long sensual kiss that seemed to go on forever. Gargamel forgot all about his pain that day.

And from then on their love blossomed. They met secretly for months and Ranja kept both kittens as Gargamel could not have been able to care for them and he was worried about Krindle finding out and killing the helpless animals.

Time passed and now they were both almost sixteen years old, their love was still secret and some other students at the school had their suspicions but no-one ever caught them together. They were very careful whilst meeting and left secret messages for each other around the local woods. Nothing in writing but they used a language of sticks and stones and by placing them in a certain order they would convey a meaning that only they as a couple could understand. Soon they were engaged to be married, but this was something that only they knew. Ranja's family were the same as everyone else in the town, they told her to not mix with the Gargamels or anyone linked to Balthazar. Ranja pretended to listen to her parents but the thrill of being in love with something forbidden was like ambrosia.

Life carried on much as it did before and despite his beatings Gargamel just did not let them bother him. Once they started he just thought about his love and went inside himself in an almost trance like state.

Even Krindle started to notice that his step son was not as scared of him as before and he knew that something was different. It was more than just him getting older.

But one day Gargamel did let his guard down, he was due to meet Ranja that summer evening and he was exited.

But Krindle would not let him leave the house and told him that he would not be allowed out in the evenings anymore. He would also have to come back from school straight away. This angered Gargamel, a feeling that he had suppressed for so long that now that it finally came to the surface he could see nothing but red and all his powers of self control left him and he lashed out at Krindle knocking the cruel step dad to the floor with one punch to the jaw.

He was out cold! Celestyn came running over and looked at her evil good for nothing husband and gave her son a great big hug.

"Go, run away son.. be with your love, I'll be OK, I'll take Sally with me and we'll hide"

"Thank you Mummy, we'll come and find you when we can." He kissed his mother goodbye and ran off into the night.

_Back at the Hovel, present time;_

Gargamel seemed very tired, he had been reading that diary and recounting the events that led up to his flight into the night with the love of his life, Ranja. He got up from the table and went over to Homnibus.

"It's getting late, we'd better get some rest. As you know, my story is only just beginning,"

He bent down and lifted up the older wizard and carried him over to the bedroom in a fireman's lift. Homnibus felt himself being gently placed on the single bed and a blanket was placed over him. The magical tendrils still had him in their grip. Gargamel could see the discomfort in Homnibus's eyes and he took out his wand and the tendrils loosened themselves and grew in size coming away from his body and forming a cage around the bed itself. Homnibus wanted to say thank you, but found that he could still not speak.

"There, you should be more comfortable. You power of speech will come back in the morning. I just need peace and quiet right now,"

He then went to the cupboard and took out another pillow and blanket for himself. He went into the kitchen and laid himself on the floor next to the fire.

He needed to gather his thoughts and find strength to carry on reading the most harrowing part of his diary. Homnibus needed to know everything as Gargamel hoped that the elderly wizard would eventually see the truth and be on his side. He did not want to lose his best friend.

Homnibus was glad that Gargamel had stopped reading at this point as the next part of the diary would be where Gargamel's heart would be broken beyond repair and if he truly was hatching a plan then that person or persons would do well to escape with their lives once Gargamel and Celestyn put it into action

(To be continued..)


	7. Chapter 7

**The Penultimate Solution (Chapter 7)**

'Best laid plans and all '

The monster's screams echoed around the forest as it succumbed to the flames. As it gasped its last breath a giant hand came towards Papa Smurf and he was caught in its grasp, unable to struggle free he could feel his breath being squeezed out of him. He tried to gasp but no air would refill his lungs, the pounding of his little Smurfy heart was starting to fade away..

"Aaarghh! " screamed Papa as he sat bolt upright in his bed. His nightgown was soaked with sweat and even now he could feel his heart beating far too fast.

"Oh, my Smurf! Thank goodness it was only a dream or should I say nightmare," he said to himself and gradually his heartbeat normalised and he felt less shaky. He got up from his bed and went to the kitchen to make himself a calming cup of tea. He believed that all dreams and nightmares had a meaning and that this one was going to be bad news for himself and his little Smurfs.

Ever since their encounter with the disguised Gargamel in the hovel yesterday, Papa has felt on edge wondering what the evil wizard was up to? Why play such charades, pretend to be dead and then come back? What was his plan?

Cup of tea in hand, Papa paced up and down his kitchen trying to think of why Gargamel would have let them go? He could have caught them there and then, or he could have stayed friendly and been led to the village to capture them all. It didn't make sense, unless!

Papa paused for a moment and the cup of tea fell from his hands and smashed upon the stone floor.

Unless, he was trying to capture someone else, Homnibus!

Ignoring the mess on the floor, Papa hurried back to the bedroom and quickly got changed. Dawn was only a couple of hours away. He had to find out for himself what was going on. He grabbed his walking stick and small bag of emergency magical powders and left his mushroom house in the pitch darkness.

It took a few minutes for his eyes to adjust to the gloom, he knew all the paths through the forest like the back of his hand. After a lot of running it only took him just under an hour to arrive at the hovel.

Peeking through a crack under the door he could just make out a soft glow from the fireplace. He was glad that Azrael was not around the area anymore as Homnibus had him locked up in his house. That would be one less thing to worry about.

Papa squeezed through the gap and saw right in front of him a dark figure lying face up next to the dying embers of the fire. He almost cried out in fright when the figure let out a noisy snore and then turned over facing the fire. There was no mistaking it. The figure on the floor was Gargamel!

Papa tiptoed as quietly as he could past the slumbering wizard and moved towards what was left of the bedroom. The bed was not in its usual place under the windowsill it had been moved to the side of the chimney stack and Papa could see a shimmering blue cage of sorts over the bed and under the dirty blanket he could just make out the white hair and beard of Homnibus.

"If that smurftard has hurt him I'll kill him with my bare hands!" whispered Papa to himself, feeling his hands clenching up in anger.

He ran up to the bed and jumped onto the bedside table. The kindly wizard seemed to be in a deep sleep but otherwise unharmed.

Suddenly the later awoke with a start and looked around the room in confusion as if he was unsure of where he was. He then started to close his eyes when Papa hissed his name.

"Homnibus! Homnibus! What's happened to you?"

The human wizard looked around again trying to seek out the source of the voice which he recognised as Papa Smurf. Oh, how glad he was that it was Papa, maybe he could get rescued by his little friends but now was not the time. He opened his mouth to speak and only a croak came out. He had not spoken for so long due to Gargamel's spell that his voice came out hoarse and barely audible. He worked up some spittle in his mouth, swallowed and tried again.

"Papa is that you?"

"Yes, Homnibus, don't worry I'll get some help for you and you'll be out of here in no time,"

"No, don't call for help yet. I know it looks bad but he has not hurt me in anyway. I believe he does not mean me harm. He just wants to make sure that I don't leave until he's got something out of his system. If I don't let him do this, there is no telling how angry he will get with me, your Smurfs and the whole forest. I've learnt something very important, it was he and his mother who stole 'The Penultimate Solution' book of dark magic. I think the destruction of your village was just a smokescreen and that they are after someone else. I have to humour him for now until I can work out his plan. Promise me you won't come barging in here. Give me your word Papa!"

"Ok Homnibus I won't send in my Smurfs but we are going to keep an eye on both of you and the first moment he lays his hands on you then he will get it.

And I mean that Homnibus, we thought he was dead and gone and now he is back and that can't be good news."

"I understand your concern Papa, but I don't believe he is trying to hurt you or the Smurfs either and that his monster did more damage than he anticipated. He has been looking at his old diaries and I believe that he is trying to right some injustices that have befallen his family,"

"Well, Smurf me! Gargamel is worried about family? Don't make me smurf up, after what he has done to us and poor Miner Smurf? What does he know about family? He doesn't really have one does he?"

"That's the reason, there are lots of things you don't know about his past, if you are truly curious you'll need to listen when he starts reading his diaries again. Maybe your view of him will soften?"

"The day I trust Gargamel will be the day I'm no longer a Smurf!" replied Papa in a low voice. He was not interested in anyone's past. The past is gone there is only the present and the future. But another part of him was just a teeny bit curious.

"Ok, Homnibus, I'll stay and listen when he starts again. I have to return to the village right now to tell my Smurfs that I'll be away for most of the day. But there might be a problem, Hefty Smurf knows that Gargamel is alive, I'll have to bring him along with me,"

"Yes that should be fine, but make sure he keeps quiet I don't want Gargamel to know that he has a bigger audience than he thinks."

The village leader nodded his understanding and he jumped off the bedside table, ran across the floor and jumped out of the window just as the sun was rising over the windowsill.

In another part of the forest, stood a house on its own and all was not well within it.

Azrael was yowling to be let out. He had been in Homnibus's house for what seemed weeks and he was desperate to get out into the forest. His new master had not returned last night and now the cat's stomach was growling. He still had access to water, there was some in the washbowl but it was disappearing fast. He had to escape but how?

All the windows were shuttered and the door was locked. Azrael looked around and then saw the fireplace.

Of course! Several times at the hovel he had managed to climb up the inside of the chimney but most of the time he was coaxed by a fire or a spell that threatened to smite him.

The chimney stack was not too high and large stones stuck out at odd angles all the way up.

Yes, it looked like it was manageable. He started to climb.

Back in the hovel the sun was shinning brightly through the windows of the broken hovel and Gargamel started to stir from his sleep. It took him a while to remember where he was as he lay there on the floor staring at the cooling ashes of the fire. He slowly raised him self up moaning about sore limbs and trying to rub life back into his legs. He was getting old and he felt it this morning.

He then got to his feet and made his way to the front door, bringing the water boiler with him. The light outside hurt his eyes and he had to close them for a minute as he stood there in the doorway feeling the warming rays loosening up his knotted muscles.

He then filled up the water boiler which was just a small cauldron from the water butt and headed back inside closing the door behind him. The slam of the door woke Homnibus up and he started to call out to his captor.

"Gargamel, are you going to let me out? I have needs to meet!"

The elderly wizard was desperate to answer the call of nature and his bladder was threatening to burst.

Gargamel came marching in and saw how uncomfortable the other wizard was and he took down the magical cage with his wand and fashioned the tendrils into a lasso placing it magically over Homnibus's head and around his middle, the other end was then attached to one of the front door handles.

"OK, go, just don't do it too close to the house," said Gargamel.

Homnibus went outside and found a good place to relieve himself. He noticed that the magic tendrils gave him quite a long leash and he managed to get down as far as the muck pond. He though about having a wash but not in that water.

He tried to go across the small bridge but the tendrils pulled him back. He was just glad that he could talk and that Gargamel had decided not to tie him up. Although he was an experienced wizard, Homnibus needed a wand to make magic, he could not just pick up any stick from the ground and he knew that Gargamel would become very angry if he tried anything.

For now he would play his game and try and find out what he and his mother were up to. He had not seen her for ages and the last time he did was in town a few years ago. She had blanked him completely, but he still had some feelings for her. That was why he maybe selfishly thought that if her only son was dead that she would be interested in him again, just like the old days.

He shook his head at the dreadful idea. No, it would have been wrong of him to try and use her grief for his own ends. Maybe he was not as nice as he thought he was?

"Come on, the kettle is boiling, lets have some breakfast!" shouted Gargamel out of the hovel door. Homnibus raised his hand to confirm that he had heard him and he could feel the magic tendril contracting and pulling him very gently but surely towards the hovel door. He just hoped that he would be able to stomach a breakfast made by the evil wizard.

Papa Smurf arrived back at the village just as everyone was getting up and preparing for another smurfy day. Baker had been up earlier than everyone else. The irresistible smell of fresh bread and cakes wafted out of the windows of his bakery. Papa suddenly felt very hungry and he saw that a tray of smurfcakes were cooling on the windowsill, he popped his head in to say hello and ask if he could have one, but Baker was no where to be seen.

He took one anyway as the smell was making him salivate. He was sure Baker would not mind. He then made his way to Hefty's house and saw through the window that the strong smurf was doing his morning exercises. His blue skin was shining with sweat and he looked the peak of Smurfy perfection. Papa shook his head when another thought popped into his head.

He knocked on the door and waited for Hefty to open it. There was quite a lot of cursing coming from the other side of the door and he felt a bit mean disturbing his routine but he had to talk to him now.

Hefty wrenched open the door and looked like he was ready to say something choice, but when he saw that it was Papa Smurf his expression changed quickly causing him to look very foolish. He beckoned the elderly smurf inside.

"Morning, Papa, sorry about the cursing, I thought you were Brainy. He's been smurfing me something terrible this morning. He wants to know what's been going on as he's fed up of us having all the fun, so to speak."

"Well, Hefty I'm afraid he's right, we can't keep this to ourselves anymore. Our dear friend Homnibus is being held against his will by Gargamel," Hefty started to look angry and he hit his clenched fist into his open palm.

"I'm so going to Smurf that man until he can't smurfing sit down for a month of smurfdays!" he growled

"No, no, well not yet! Homnibus has a plan. We just need to get ourselves ready in case he gets into danger. Gargamel seems to be having some sort of emotional breakdown and is revisiting his past. He could be much more dangerous than ever as he seems to have in his possession the most dangerous book of spells ever written.

Homnibus thinks that he and his mother are planning something big. All of this has been a plan of some sort and its important that we find out if its dangerous for us and the future of the whole forest. We need to get some trusted smurfs together and they must smurf to secrecy.

We don't want to start a panic in the rest of the village. If you can get Brainy, Farmer, Grouchy and Handy back to my lab I'll tell them what's happening. I don't think we need the whole village to fight Gargamel."

"That's true Papa, we've managed it well enough with just a couple of Smurfs. That wizard is so slow and dim witted that its almost getting boring having to keep smurfing his smurf!"

Papa giggled at this and bade Hefty goodbye. He headed out of Hefty's house and hoped that he would not bump into Brainy before he got to his laboratory. Papa had lots on his mind and first things first he had to make some protection spells and quickly.

_Back at the hovel.._

"Thank you for the breakfast Gargamel, it was interesting," said Homnibus trying to suppress his complaining stomach.

"Pah! I know you didn't like it, stop trying to placate me I know when you're being false, you forget that I've known you all my life," spat the younger wizard.

"But you don't know everything about me though do you Homnibus? The years I spent in the wilderness with my thoughts and regrets. My anguish and self loathing, and I started out so full of hope for the future. How cruel life can be."

He sat himself down at one end of the table and motioned for Homnibus to sit at the opposite end. As he moved, Homnibus could feel the magical tendrils flexing and as he sat down they gently but firmly tied him in his seat.

"Are these really necessary? I'm not going to try anything. I've got no wand for a start." pleaded Homnibus, but Gargamel just waved his hand and looked him straight in the eyes.

"I've given back your power of speech. Do you want it taken away again?"

The elderly wizard shook his head. The younger one looked away for a moment and took hold of the battered diary that contained all the damaged pages. He opened it up almost as if it was a precious document his long thin fingers turning the pages with quiet precision until he found what he was looking for.

He looked up for a moment and Homnibus could not tear his eyes away from Gargamel's glare

"Let's continue this jolly little tale shall we?"

**To be continued... **


	8. Chapter 8

**The Penultimate Solution (Chapter 8)**

'Happiness is fleeting'

_Far away from the hovel at the very edge of the forest;_

The evil looking raven flew low over the thick forest and gradually the landscape below it turned from lush green to scraggy bushes and stunted trees burnt by countless forest fires. The land rose up to meet the bird and it flapped its wings harder to gain altitude until it reached the summit of the mountain. At the top stood an impressive looking castle.

Its turrets scratched the brooding sky and its dark form cast a long shadow into the valley below and all who dwelt in it.

A couple of figures could be seen making their way up a steep mountain path towards the moat that surrounded the castle. One of the figures was being dragged along by the other, they did not seem to want to be there and they had good reason to fear.

The moat was not filled with water as in a normal castle. This was no ordinary castle and so its moat was filled with a dragon! No-one knew how long it had been trapped in that terrible place. The owner of the castle had shackled it with magic. It was doomed to forever live in its dark hole, never seeing the sun or others of its kind.

This made it very dangerous, when it sensed any living being approaching, it would try and eat them as its cruel owner kept it half starved, only chucking a goat or two for it each month.

Its main diet was human flesh. The flesh of those who opposed the owner of the dragon, Lord Balthazar. This part of the land was in the 'cursed country' as no King wanted to rule it. Deep valleys, mountains and forests were all it had with no fertile land for farming. The people were poor and downtrodden. Balthazar liked it that way. He had complete rule over his subjects, the King hardly ever interfered unless someone complained, but they had to come to him first to get permission to leave the his lands. Funny how the complaints seemed to vanish without trace.

As they got to the edge of the moat a large drawbridge was lowered. It was enclosed in a large iron mesh tube, to prevent the dragon eating expected guests. Unexpected guests got the bare drawbridge and they always walked across it straight to their doom into the jaws of the oversized lizard.

The taller figure who was a man wearing a black hooded cloak, knocked on the castle door. It opened with a heavy groaning sound and the man pulled at his prisoner who was much smaller than himself and wearing a patched grey smock. The rest of the prisoner was hidden by a large black sack that covered them from head to waist. It was all secured with lashings of rope all around the torso of the unfortunate.

As the hooded figure walked over the threshold he looked up towards the ceiling and noticed a large guillotine blade hanging over him like the sword of Damocles. He was glad that their host was expecting them. Others were never that lucky, they just got served up to the dragon as slices of ham.

A voice bellowed through the castle making both 'guests' shiver with fright

"Enter and be quick about it. I have people to see and punishment to dish out"

The figure who was tied up froze on the spot and refused to move another inch. The hooded man just lifted the person up in a fireman lift and carried his quarry kicking and screaming muffled screams up the stairs to the throne room.

_Deep in the forest in the Smurf village;_

Papa waited in his laboratory for his most trusted and least easily panicked Smurfs to turn up. Brainy did not fit the bill but they would need to bring him along just to keep him from unsettling the rest of the village. If he knew that he had been left behind, who knows what trouble he could stir up at home?

The elderly Smurf did not have to wait long, one by one, each of his little Smurfs came into his home and he gathered them round himself and told them all that he knew so far and the important job they would soon have to do. Some gasped with shock and Brainy started to complain but just one 'Smurfed off' stare from Papa was enough to silence him. He did not want to end up on his head after being thrown out of the village. They gathered up some tools and put them in Handy's bag. They would tell the others that they were mending one of the old bridges deep in the forest but in fact they were going to use the tools to make some crude weapons in case they needed to battle the evil wizard.

_Back at Gargamel's hovel;_

"There are some things that no-one until now has known about. You knew that Ranja and I fled into the forest for a couple of years. The rest you know about but you don't truly know why I changed so much," said Gargamel fixing Homnibus with a gaze that almost looked sincere.

"I feel that you should know the truth Homnibus as you've always done so much for my family in the past. I never wanted to become the person I am today but we can't always choose can we?"

"That's not always true Gargamel. Everyone always has a choice to be good or evil." replied Homnibus.

"Don't patronise me! It's too late for me now but others are involved in all of this and I don't want them to end up like me. Like the Gargamel family. Always poor, always hated and never getting anywhere I want something more for them."

Homnibus was getting confused at this stage and felt the question forming on his lips but Gargamel answered it for him as if he could read his mind.

"Yes Homnibus. I am a father and I will do anything for my twins. This time I must not fail"

The elderly wizard could not utter a word he just sat there with his mouth opening and closing. He was in shock. Gargamel a father? When? How did that happen? But the younger wizard was not going to give him an answer yet.

"Right, lets get this over with and you'll understand where I'm coming from and why its in your own best interests to help me and mummy,"

He started to read from the diary.

_Flashback to Gargamel and Ranja's flight into the forest;_

It had been a couple of weeks since they had both run away from their homes. The weather had been kind to them and they kept moving deeper and deeper into the forest. Always on the lookout for somewhere safe to stay at night.

At first they built simple shelters and lean-tos deep in the forest, only lighting fires at night. On other nights they would sleep high up in the trees if wolves or bears were around. They were only young but out of necessity they learnt to hunt ,trap and prepare all sorts of game, ranging from song birds to deer. Several times they went without food but they were lucky that the animals deep in the forest were numerous and easy to catch as they did not seem to fear man.

Here Gargamel excelled in making all sorts of ingenious traps. From the basic snare to elaborate cages and trigger mechanisms. Every night they huddled together to keep warm and naturally certain urges would overwhelm them.

As winter approached that first year they decided that they were so far away from other people that they could afford to settle down in a part of the forest.

They came across a small cave set back in a small glade and surrounded by thick bushes. The entrance could not be seen easily and they had only come across it by chance when a rabbit escaped into it.

They soon set up home in there and thanks to Gargamel's hunting skills they had just enough food to keep them healthy and warm that harsh winter.

By now their families had feared the worst and had given up looking for them. But Krindle would not give up. His heart was full of hate for his runaway wife and stepson. He was also very angry that his flesh and blood Sally had decided to be with them and not him. She would pay the price one day. He spent the whole winter tracking deep into the woods, thinking that he could catch them out. But he never found them. He found no trace of his daughter and wife either.

Krindle eventually went back to working for Balthazar and the later said he had a way of helping him to find the fugitives. This pleased Krindle. Gargamel had to pay dearly for daring to stand up to him. Together he and Balthazar worked out a plan to make the whole Gargamel family come out of hiding. But someone would have to die to put the plan into action.

In the meantime Celestyn and Sally had run away to Paris and found work in a large town house. They both worked in the laundry room, at first they had asked her if she wanted to help in the kitchens but even she knew that her skills were very lacking and she might have ended up poisoning the whole household and getting the sack. They had given false names. Kept their heads down and worked hard. No-one bothered to ask them too many questions and they did not ask anyone anything personal either. As long as they were together and safe from Krindle then nothing else mattered. But Celestyn did worry about her only son Gargamel and in the long dark nights she would think of him often, wondering what he and Ranja were doing? Did they have enough food, were they safe? All the things a mother would worry about.

Winter gave way to spring and everything in the forest seemed to be coming alive again. Gargamel would often sit with Ranja at the mouth of their cave in the warming rays of the sun, he liked to hold his ear against her swollen belly and feel their child kicking the side of his face. They were very happy that spring. They had no idea when she was due but it had to be soon as she was very big and waddled everywhere. She still insisted on picking the berries saying that pregnancy was not an illness.

They decided that now was the time to get married, but of course they were in the middle of nowhere and there were no witnesses. There was a special place in that forest that they liked to visit. It had a small lake and this spring it was surrounded by millions of bluebells. They both thought that it would be perfect to hold their 'hand fasting' ceremony.

When they got to the lake they had the shock of their life. There sitting next to the water was a monk with a big stick and a large sack. They started to creep away but Ranja being less delicate on her feet made a branch crack. The monk jumped up with his stick ready for battle and he shouted out "Who's there?"

Gargamel felt like running but something was strange about the monk. His eyes were all white. He was totally blind.

The monk stayed with them in their cave for a couple of months. They found out that he had been wandering alone for many years and had come to the forest to meet his maker as he was very old and no-one was going to look after him in his old age. He had been in the forest for three days and had only just found the lake and drunk some water. He had planned to lie down and die on the spot they had found him.

Now he felt that it was fate that had brought them together and in return for their kindness he 'married' them by being a witness to the hand fasting.

Little did Gargamel and Ranja know that having a monk at your wedding was very bad luck indeed.

The monk was called Tallow and he taught Gargamel lots of new skills, including how to make healing potions and ways to make a fire more efficient. He even helped them to build a mud oven. Something that they had not had before. That spring they both learnt more than they had ever been taught at school. Out here in the real world, each lesson was important and necessary for their survival. But he became more than a teacher to them. He kept them amused with his funny stories and always had an uplifting story to tell in the face of adversity. He could also be very grumpy and snappy with them but it was only because of his frustrations at losing his sight to cataracts. He became Gargamel's best friend, even if it was just for a short time.

But of course it could not last and for some, survival was very hard work. In early summer Tallow the monk passed away. They were both sad that they had lost a friend but were glad that they had made his final few weeks happy and comfortable. They buried him in the bluebell glade next to the lake. Looking in the sack a few days later, Gargamel found one of Tallow's spare black cassocks. His own clothes were now very threadbare and he decided to wear the cassock in memory of his friend.

_Back to the present time;_

Gargamel took a break from reading the diary and pinched the brow of nose, screwing up his eyes as if trying to rub away a hurt, Homnibus was not sure but he thought he saw a bit of wet on his fingers.

"Tallow, I remember that monk," said Homnibus. "They said he was quite mad and always trouble. Some were glad when he left the town as he never had anything good to say to anyone,"

"Well, that's was not our experience. He was always good to get along with. Maybe it was something about the townspeople that he did not like. He was a good friend to us, he helped us a lot and I won't have anything bad said about him," replied Gargamel.

He rubbed his eyes once more and picked up the diary.

Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw something blue and he put the diary back down, looking intently towards the window, but he shook his head and continued.

"Now back to the story. This is the bit you must know about. I've kept it hidden in my heart for so long that its eaten me up inside and I need to tell someone about it. It is the part where my whole reason for being is destroyed,"

Gargamel took a deep breath and began to read.

One very hot day, Ranja did not feel like picking any berries and complained of a backache. Gargamel made her as comfortable as he could in the cave and brought back water to store in the stone storage vessel that they had carved into the cave wall over the winter. The baby must be on its way and he was very nervous for Ranja.

He knew what healing potions to use to ease pain and help with childbirth thanks to Tallow. Ranja was glad that she had such an attentive and caring husband. He hardly left her side that day and as soon as darkness fell, he lit a fire to keep them warm as the night was cooling quickly and he did not want her or the baby to get chilled.

It was a long night and Ranja hardly made a sound. Gargamel would hold her hand at each contraction and she would dig her nails deep into his flesh making him bleed. He did not care. Her pain was his pain and they were united by it.

Soon their baby son was born and in the firelight this wrinkled little person was the most beautiful thing that Gargamel and Ranja had ever seen. They named him Amahl which meant 'Hope' in Ranja's mother tongue. It was to be the one and only time that the young Gargamel would ever know the true joy of having a family of his own and for once in his life he was truly happy and at peace with the world.

Summer turned to Autumn and Ahmal grew strong on all the milk that Ranja was able to provide thanks to Gargamel's hunting skills. They had so much some weeks that they spent most of their time smoking the meat for storing over winter. They gathered nuts and berries and made a paste out of them, packing them tightly into hollowed out gourds that they had planted around the cave mouth earlier that year. It had been one of Tallow's ideas.

Now they had a good store of food for the coming winter and soon Ahmal was strong enough to sit up without help.

Every time that his son smiled at him, Gargamel felt his heart fill with joy, he loved to hold him and watch him explore the world. Now he knew what his mother felt and why she could sometimes be harsh one minute and loving the next. It was wonderfully confusing to be a parent, but he knew that he would do anything to protect this little bundle. His Ahmal, his hope!

The winter was very cold again. For several days Gargamel could not go out hunting, so the reserve food was very important and they made sure that their son had his full share, even if it meant them going hungry for a day or two. Ranja would give Gargamel some of her share. He would start to argue, but he knew that they both depended on him as the protector and the hunter of their little family.

_Back to the present time in the hovel:_

Gargamel had put the diary down on the table and just sat staring into space as if he was still back there, deep in the forest with his family.

Homnibus looked at him, trying to hold down a lump that had started to form in his throat.

The elderly wizard knew what came next, the unbearable hurt that the younger wizard had suffered. In a way Homnibus knew that Gargamel had never truly forgiven him. Maybe this was why he was letting him know of his plan. He was giving him a chance to redeem himself. But it would ultimately mean that Gargamel would get his wish once and for all.

Would he, Homnibus be strong enough?

_Just outside the windowsill of the hovel;_

Papa sat down on the sill feeling all confused. He had no idea about Gargamel's past and he was not sure if he was prepared to believe any of it. If he knew what it meant to have a family then why was he so mean to the Smurfs? This was more than just jealousy or the need for gold. Hefty had heard some of what Gargamel had read from the diary as well and he was trying not to laugh.

"You're not going to believe all that are you? It could all be lies!" spat the strong smurf.

But just one look at Homnibus told Papa that it was true and that their wizard friend was involved far deeper than they thought.

"Gargamel, you don't have to read the rest of the diary if it hurts you. Why are you tormenting yourself like this?" asked a concerned Homnibus.

The evil wizard snapped out of his daydream and shook his head.

"I need to remember every last detail. It will give me courage to face up to my fate. To give me the strength to face the ones who wronged our family once and for all. To give a future to my children." replied Gargamel whilst holding the diary in his hands. Unconsciously he had been bending the spine of the fragile book and some pages fell out onto the table.

He picked up the yellowed pages of woe and glanced at them before stuffing them at the front of the diary. They had already been read.

"I'm going to continue now and please don't interrupt. I only want to read this once more and never again. And Papa Smurf! I know you're on the window sill listening to me. Maybe you should show yourself and learn something about family!"

Papa and the other Smurfs sheepishly peeked around the corner of the window and Gargamel beckoned them in.

"Come and grab a seat next to Homnibus. You may learn something very important about him, no man is without his secrets or regrets, is he?" sneered Gargamel looking straight at his human companion.

The Smurfs could only sit, watch and prepared to listen to the woes of their nemesis. Hefty just wanted to be back in the Smurf village punching his 'Gargamel Face' punch bag. But he figured that it might be interesting to hear how his foe suffered. It might even be fun to listen.

Gargamel continued with his story.

Winter was over and it was the young family's second year in the forest. Ahmal was just starting to walk, he would hold onto his father's hands and day by day became stronger until one evening he walked all by himself from Ranja's side to the entrance of the cave. They were so proud that day.

But a couple of days later, Ahmal could not be roused from his sleep. He did not seem hot and had no rash, but still he could not be woken. Gargamel and Ranja were at a loss as what to do. Gargamel could run for help but the nearest town was three days walk away. They were so deep in the forest that it would take too long to get help. They would have to all leave their forest home together to get help.

They packed up their meagre belongings, covered up the entrance to the cave and giving it one last look they set off at a quick pace, cradling Ahmal in their arms.

The journey was long and arduous. They managed to get some water and a little food into their son, but he still would not wake. Once on the outskirts of the town, Gargamel went ahead and knocked on doors to find a local healer. Most people shooed him away as to them he looked like a very dirty wild haired madman. Gargamel got very frustrated at the towns people's indifference. His son was very ill and he needed help NOW!

He ran back to the edge of the town and brought Ranja and Ahmal out into the town square. People only saw what they wanted to see. To them the young family were just beggars with an ill child. Who cared about that? Lots of other people were in a pitiful state. Beggars littered the town square, some only had two arms and no legs. Did they not deserve more pity?

Gargamel felt despair digging at his heart. He was powerless to help his own son. He was a nobody and no-one cared.

He started to sink onto his knees in despair as self-pity overwhelmed him, he glanced back at his family just sitting a few yards from him in the mud. That's what they were in the eyes of others...mud!

Then the unthinkable happened. At first Gargamel thought that he was imagining things. But on the shoulder of Ranja there sat an etheral looking green snake. It could hardly be seen but little by little it was coiling itself around Ranja's neck and then it began to squeeze.

Gargamel could not understand why Ranja had not seen the snake or even felt it, but he could see that she was having great difficulty in breathing, but she was still sitting with Ahmal in her arms He ran up to her and saw the panic in her eyes. She could not speak as the snake was squeezing harder and harder.

Gargamel did the only thing that he could do and that was to try and pull the snake off her neck, but it was very strong and it would not budge. At the same time another green snake appeared and started to coil itself around Ahmal's chest, he was so weak that his little heart gave out without a sound. Gargamel did not notice that his son had already gone.

Ranja's eyes started to turn back into her head and her lips were going blue, but still the snake would not uncoil. He started to shout her name and in the bustle of the town square, a few people looked, then some people pointed and a few shouted...MURDER!

_Back in the hovel;_

"They thought I was mad, that I'd made it up about the snake strangling my wife.. It was there, as plain as day, squeezing the life out of them and I was powerless to stop it. Of course I was arrested and taken to the dungeons in Balthazar's castle. This was when Krindle took great pleasure in telling me that they were both dead, that I would most likely get the death sentence and that I would had no-one to mourn me as even my own mother and step sister had run away." Gargamel put the diary on the table and stared at Homnibus and the Smurfs.

"That is when I decided that life was only meant for the strongest, most powerful beings and I had enough of being kind and good as it never got me anything but pain and sorrow."

Papa started to walk along the table up to Gargamel but the evil wizard swept his hand in front of the Smurf knocking Papa over.

"Don't you dare try to pity me! When you hear the next part of the diary you'll wish that one person in this room had been made of stronger stuff. That they had left pity at home. I had nothing more to lose that day until Homnibus interfered."

**To be continued...**


	9. Chapter 9

**The Penultimate Solution (Chapter 9)**

'Never give in'

He couldn't remember how long he had been in the pit. His skin was pale and dirty, his cherished cassock was in tatters. It had the memory of his friend Tallow entwined in it's fibres, it had kept his spirits up. Now even his rags gave him no comfort.

He saw only pain, misery and loneliness for the rest of his days. It couldn't get any worse.

He must have fallen asleep as the next thing he knew he was being kicked awake by Krindle, his step dad. His ribs hurt so much he had trouble sitting up. His captor helped him up by grabbing him by the hair on his head, but great big chunks of hair fell out in Krindle's hands.

"Ha,ha,ha! Look Gargamel, you're losing your hair. I think you'll look even uglier from now on" And he continued to pull at the younger man's hair. Gargamel had no strength left to care and just concentrated on not letting his step dad see the tears welling up in his eyes.

Eventually, his tormentor got bored and left Gargamel sitting in the dark once more, with a jug of water, stale bread and piles of hair strewn on the dirty floor.

_Back in the hovel;_

"At this point I was praying to die. I had nothing left in the world, or so I thought. A few days later Krindle came into the pit and said I was free to go. All charges had been dropped. A witness claimed to have seen the magical snake as well and Balthazar was not able to buy his silence. I so wish that person had not saved me," said Gargamel looking down at his hands.

_Flashback to Gargamel's time as a tramp;_

Sometimes freedom is harder to deal with than being captive...

Deep snow lay in the narrow lanes between the houses, the gutter used for human waste and refuse was all iced up, so everything that you never wished to see was in plain view. Never being washed away. That meant there was a job for someone.

Gargamel walked up and down the gutters with a large burlap sack. His clothes consisted of an old worn out cassock donated by a local monastery. It had so many repair patches that it was considered too ugly to be used in the service of the Lord. But good enough for a destitute man.

He wore no gloves as such but had wrapped some old pieces of cloth around his hands and feet to give some protection against the cold and the pieces of excrement he had to pick up.

His constant bending over had given him a bad back. The damp and bad food had caused some of the bones in his spine to crumble away, so he developed a stoop. He was a figure of derision in the village and was regularly pelted with mud in the summer and snowballs in winter. In the end he didn't mind them as it meant people could still see him. He still existed, but only just.

Celestyn had heard about her son's arrest and imprisonment. She knew that he was still alive and living on the streets doing the jobs that no-one else would do. She desperately wanted to go and see him, but if she was ever seen, then her life and that of her step daughter would be over. Even as far away as Paris, posters had been put up in the city offering a reward for the safe return of a run away wife and daughter. Krindle was getting close and she and Sally did not know how long they had left before their cover would be blown.

Unfortunately for them, it came much sooner than they thought and before they even had time to pack and flee they were captured by Balthazars men and taken back to his castle to meet their fate.

Meanwhile, in the gutter, life carried on as normal for the stooped young wizard, until the day Krindle came up to him and handed him a letter. He left without saying a word or even waiting for the letter to be opened.

Gargamel opened it up and started to read:

_My dear Gargamel,_

_So sorry to hear of the loss of your wife and son. I know how much they meant to you and I will always be sorry to have never met your little boy._

_I write this letter to ask that you never try to contact me or Sally ever again._

_Lord Balthazar forbids it and he has threatened to kill us if we talk to you or even see you again._

_Please, please, Gargamel. Go to the hovel in the woods, you can make a better living in the forbidden forest. You are better than this. Sally sends her love. But please do not contact us. You will do this if you truly love us..._

He must have read it over and over a dozen times. Each time he read it, the worse the pain got. He felt that he had now truly lost his heart soul.

He would go to the forest, but not to live.

A few days later, he was back where he felt happiest and safest. Except that this time he had no-one to share it with. The hovel was in a state of disrepair but he had no interest in sorting it out.

He had made up his mind. He was going to join his family wherever they were.

He had brought along some rope and fashioned a noose at one end. He then found a chair in the hovel. With difficulty he climbed the dead cherry tree next to the hovel and tied off the rope to a sturdy branch.

He half climbed, fell back to the ground. He then tested his weight on the rope. He wanted to do it right.

He then got his blanket and went to sit in the meadow next to the pond. He sat there without moving for the rest of the evening and all of the night. Listening to the sounds of the forest and the sound of silence.

Once the morning birdsong started up, he got to his feet. Not that he could feel them as it had been cold that night and his blanket had a thick layer of frost on it.

He climbed onto the chair under the noose and with cold trembling fingers put it around his neck. He faced to rising sun and without even thinking of anything he kicked it away.

He opened his eyes and found that he was lying on the floor, his neck hurt a lot and he was freezing cold. Strong but kind hands were pulling him off the ground. He wanted to say something but could only croak.

The man brought him into the hovel and laid him on a makeshift bed next to the empty grate. He set to work starting a fire to warm both of them.

Whilst the fire started to burn, Gargamel looked down and saw that the rope was still around his neck but loose, the end had been cut. He started to feel very angry at being saved. How dare someone decide if he lived or died!

He then saw who the man was and he cried from shame.

**To be continued...**


End file.
